Funding awarded for contaminated sites on North Shore, Iron Range

A total of $600,000 in brownfields grants was awarded to aid in the cleanup of priority sites in Northeastern Minnesota on Wednesday.

The Arrowhead Regional Development Commission based in Duluth was the recipient of the funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which announced the news along with Rep. Pete Stauber.

"I am thrilled that communities within Minnesota's 8th Congressional District will receive funds from this Brownfields Assessment Grant," U.S. Congressman Pete Stauber, R-Hermantown, said in a news release. "These funds will be used to transform contaminated sites into community assets."

Priority sites include former coal and iron ore docks on the shores of Lake Superior, a former sawmill and a former building products manufacturing site, the EPA said. The cities of Two Harbors, International Falls, Cloquet, Grand Rapids and Cohasset, and Aitkin County are partnering with the other agencies to conduct the work.

"These communities are ready to move forward with redevelopment, they just lacked the funding to take that next step," said EPA Regional Administrator Kurt Thiede. "EPA's Brownfields grants help jump-start the process by providing support for assessments and cleanups."

Funding will be used to inventory and assess existing cleanup sites, hold 12 public outreach meetings, distribute project fact sheets and press releases, and develop a total of eight cleanup plans. Brownfields are abandoned sites where redevelopment is complicated by the "presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant," according to the EPA.

"Today's grant announcement will provide the North Shore and the Iron Range with smart investments that will clean up once contaminated sites," Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner Laura Bishop said.