The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced the Town of Silverton will receive an $800,000 Brownfields Multipurpose Grant funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. EPA’s award to Silverton is among six Brownfields grants totaling nearly $4.78 million announced for cleanup and revitalization projects in communities across Colorado.  

The Town of Silverton will use the EPA funds to complete environmental cleanup actions and site assessments, develop a brownfields inventory and conduct related community engagement activities at properties in town and along recreational corridors. Addressing contamination at these sites will create opportunities for new affordable housing, water quality improvements and recreational amenities.  

“Silverton has developed a comprehensive plan to assess, clean up and revitalize key properties in town and in key recreational areas surrounding the community,” said EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker. “EPA is proud to support these efforts to improve health and develop new amenities for the community with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”  

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping clean up and revitalize communities across Colorado,” said U.S. Senator Michael Bennet. “With this funding, Buena Vista, Pueblo, Telluride, Silverton, San Luis and Trinidad can make sure these sites are safe for the families living near them and restore them in ways that meet the communities’ needs.”  

The EPA funds are part of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to expedite the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites in while advancing environmental justice through the Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant programs. Thanks to the historic boost from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this funding is the largest ever awarded in the history of the EPA’s Brownfields MARC Grant programs.  

“Silverton is grateful for the continued support from our federal partners,” said Gloria Kaasch-Buerger, Town Administrator, Town of Silverton. “This grant is a great step forward in our ability to manage our community’s natural assets while we grow and thrive.”  

The target area for the EPA grant funds includes the Town Core, the Animas River Corridor and the Cement Creek Corridor, all within Silverton. Priority sites include the Zanoni site on Keystone Street, the Lackawanna Mill site on 468 County Road 20 and the Cement Creek site on County Road 110.    

The Town of Silverton will use the funds to focus on former mining sites and ancillary operations, like smelters, where remnant features, abandoned facilities and tailings piles remain today. Many of these operations were concentrated along the waterbody corridors that frame the town, resulting in adverse impacts to water quality. Additionally, mine wastes with elevated metal concentrations were often used as fill and grading materials at these sites, which limit their potential for redevelopment. Contaminants of concern include arsenic, cadmium, copper, silver, zinc and lead.  

The Town will reuse many of these brownfields sites including the Zanoni site in the Town Core area, an ideal location for much-needed new affordable housing. Another priority is the 27-acre Lackawanna Mill site in the Animas River Corridor, which includes an abandoned historic mill, remnant mining buildings, waste piles and equipment that impact the river and nearby recreation. In addition, the Cement Creek site is a roughly five-acre property comprised of exposed mine tailings with steep sided slopes leading to the creek. The site is a priority for assessment and cleanup to address hazards. Potential reuse opportunities include open space, pedestrian infrastructure and art and signage that would enhance this gateway area to town.  

Other Brownfields grants announced in Colorado include:  

• Watershed NP, Inc.: Buena Vista, $979,222  
• The Keating School, Pueblo: $1 million  
• The Town of San Luis: $500,000  
• San Miguel County: $500,000  
• Mt. Carmel Wellness and Community Center, Trinidad: $998,700   

Thanks to the historic $1.5 billion boost from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA’s Brownfields Program is helping more communities than ever begin to address the economic, social and environmental challenges caused by brownfields and stimulate economic opportunity and environmental revitalization in historically overburdened communities.   

EPA’s Brownfields Program also advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative to direct 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities. Approximately 84% of the MARC program applications selected to receive funding proposed to work in areas that include historically underserved communities.  

EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.37 billion in Brownfield Grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. EPA’s investments in addressing brownfield sites have leveraged more than $36 billion in cleanup and redevelopment. Communities that previously received Brownfields Grants used these resources to fund assessments and cleanups of brownfields, and successfully leverage an average of 10.6 jobs per $100,000 of grant funds spent and $19.78 for every dollar.