New York will receive more than $14.3 million in federal funding to help assess, clean up, and redevelop contaminated and abandoned properties across the state, U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced Wednesday.
The funding, awarded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Program, will support 13 communities in every region of New York, including the Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, Western New York, and New York City.
According to the senators, the funding will be used for environmental site assessments, cleanup planning, and redevelopment efforts aimed at turning former industrial and polluted sites into usable land for housing, businesses, and public spaces. The money was allocated through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“From Utica in the Mohawk Valley to Western New York and beyond, New York has had too many toxic eyesores and contaminated sites from our industrial past,” Schumer said in a statement. He said the investment will help accelerate cleanup efforts while supporting job creation and economic development.
Gillibrand said the funding will help address sites that pose environmental and public health risks, noting that more than a dozen projects are included in the award. She highlighted funding for projects such as cleanup work tied to former industrial and waterfront properties across the state.
Among the largest awards is more than $4.3 million for the City of Utica to assess and clean multiple former industrial sites, including a former manufacturing facility contaminated with hazardous materials. Other funding includes $1 million for Jamestown’s Chadakoin River corridor and $500,000 for Rochester-area assessment and cleanup planning.
Additional funding will support projects in Montgomery, Niagara, Herkimer, and Wayne counties, as well as New York City and Long Island, including work on former industrial sites, landfills, and waterfront properties.
