Rep. Cleaver Joins EPA Deputy Administrator McCabe to Award $5.75 Million to Kansas City for Brownfield Projects

(Kansas City, MO) – Today, U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO) joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe and EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister to award $5.75 million to the City of Kansas City, MO. These grants are provided through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, including $3.9 million to the Kansas City, Missouri, Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund.

The breakdown for the $5.75 million in federal funding includes: $3.9 million to the Kansas City, Missouri Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund, $1 million to the Kansas City, Missouri Bi-State Brownfields Coalition Revolving Loan Fund, $500,000 for a community-wide Brownfields Assessment Grant, and $350,000 for an environmental Brownfields Assessment Grant.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will extend the capacity of the Kansas City’s Brownfields program to provide funding for more cleanups in the city’s most disadvantaged areas.

Proposed plans at Hardesty Federal Complex Buildings 1 and 2 include abatement of contaminants such as asbestos, lead-based paint, and other hazards. This work is an important step toward redeveloping the buildings into housing, retail, and commercial space, and it has the potential to be funded through the Kansas City, Missouri, Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund.

“I proudly supported the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to ensure that critical federal investments were made right here in communities throughout Kansas City, and that’s exactly what we are seeing happen today,” said Congressman Cleaver. “I was thrilled to join EPA Deputy Administrator McCabe and Regional Administrator McCollister to highlight the funding for necessary work to address Kansas City’s brownfields and revitalize communities”

“Across the country, thousands of sites like the former Hardesty Federal Complex right here in Kansas City, sit idle, too often jeopardizing the health and economic security of local communities,” said Deputy Administrator McCabe. “Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties has the power to turn once blighted areas into economic engines right here in Missouri, providing opportunities for job growth, increasing tax revenues, and protecting people’s health and the environment.”

“We are thrilled to have Deputy Administrator McCabe, Congressman Cleaver, and the city of Kansas City, Missouri, join our celebration of the Brownfields program,” said Regional Administrator McCollister. “We’re excited for Kansas City to harness the potential of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to build on past successes, clean up contaminated sites, and spur reinvestment in local communities that need it most.”

After the event, EPA joined Rep. Cleaver and community leaders from Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and Mattie Rhodes for a roundtable on community reinvestment. The group focused on the Bi-State Sustainable Reinvestment Corridor, announced by Congressman Cleaver in February. Participants spoke about ongoing work being done inside communities within the corridor, the corridor’s anticipatory future, and how its collaborative approach makes it a magnet for future federal investments for communities along and within its boundaries.

“The Sustainable Corridor project presents the citizens of two states, five cities, two counties, and, perhaps, the entire nation, a sample of the community and economic development that can be created if we focus, like a laser, on healing our environment through sustainable efforts,” said Congressman Cleaver. “This project harnesses the ability to unlock greater opportunities for underserved communities throughout the region through targeted federal investments. The EPA’s $5.75 million grant to the City for its brownfields programs and the DOT’s $5.6 million RAISE grant for the Sustainable Corridor are only the beginning of a number of significant federal funding opportunities that we hope to see made here in our community. I will continue to work with our partners on a federal and local level to ensure that we maximize the positive impact these, and future, investments will have on area families.”

A Fact Sheet on the Bi-State Sustainable Reinvestment Corridor is available here.

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Blue Springs, Grain Valley, Oak Grove, North Kansas City, Gladstone, Claycomo, and all of Ray, Lafayette, and Saline Counties. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee; Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance; member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress; member of the Committee on Homeland Security; and a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus.