The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday recognized Norristown, Montgomery County, for its efforts to revitalize brownfields sites for future development.

“Brownfields initiatives demonstrate how environmental protection and economic development work hand-in-hand,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “Once brownfields properties are assessed, cleaned up and redeveloped, communities like Norristown can turn once blighted properties into environmentally safe and productive locations that are ideal for attracting businesses to stimulate the local economy.”

Last fall, EPA awarded $400,000 in brownfields grants to Norristown to help assess former industrial sites that may be contaminated with hazardous materials. The funding enables Norristown to create an inventory of the parcels and conduct site assessments.

Additionally, funds will assist with public participation efforts to help build active community involvement in achieving a vision for revitalizing Norristown.

EPA's Brownfields program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites in America.

Since the inception of EPA’s brownfields program, EPA has awarded $47.2 million in funding to 60 grant recipients in Pennsylvania and helped create about 2,600 jobs statewide.

Nationally, EPA’s brownfields investments have leveraged more than $18.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources and have resulted in approximately 75,500 jobs. More than 18,000 properties have been assessed, and more than 700 properties have been cleaned up.

A fact sheet on the Norristown funding is available online and more information on EPA’s Brownfields Program webpage in general is also available.

3/18/2013