Brownfields Program Policy Changes

• Revolving Loan Fund Program
• FY 2023 Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, and Cleanup Grant Competitions
• FY 2022 Assessment, RLF, and Cleanup Grant Competitions
• Brownfields Job Training Program

Revolving Loan Fund Program

October 2022 - Notice on Expected Criteria for Fiscal Year FY 2023 (FY23) RLF Supplemental Funding

Note: The following expected criteria are being provided early so that RLF cooperative agreement recipients can plan accordingly.  Additional details, definitions, and final criteria will be included in the FY23 Supplemental Funding Instructions.

EPA expects to provide instructions for requesting FY23 RLF Supplemental Funding on EPA’s Brownfields Program website around February 15, 2023, with requests due on March 17, 2023. As of October 2022, EPA plans to award up to $3 million per RLF Grant using Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds, based on the following criteria:

1. To be eligible for an FY23 supplemental funding award of up to $1 million, the CAR must have a clear plan for quickly utilizing requested funds and must meet the following general criteria by the date requests are due:

1.a.  Must have executed at least one loan.           

• Note:  As was indicated in the FY22 Supplemental Funding Instructions, in FY23 the criteria will now require execution of a loan (i.e., a CAR who has executed only a subgrant no longer meets this criteria).

1.b. Must have significantly depleted funds (includes EPA funds, monetary cost share, and any available program income from open, post-closeout, or closed RLF Grants):

- For RLF CARs who have received more than $1 million in EPA funding for their RLF program: The balance of uncommitted funding can equal no more than 35% of the total amount of RLF funds under all open, post-closeout, and closed grants. Uncommitted funding is the amount of available funding and is defined as the amount of Unspent RLF Funds minus the amount of Committed RLF Funds.

- For RLF CARs who have received $1 million or less in EPA funding for their RLF program: The balance of uncommitted funding can equal no more than 50% of the total amount of RLF funds awarded under all open, post-closeout, and closed grants.

- EPA uses the following RLF Grant status definitions:

OPEN	The cooperative agreement is open (i.e., period of performance has not ended).
POST-CLOSEOUT	The cooperative agreement period of performance has ended and the RLF Grant has accrued or expected program income that has not been expended or returned to EPA (i.e., a COA is active or still needs to be executed).
CLOSED	The cooperative agreement period of performance has ended and the RLF Grant has no accrued or expected program income (e.g., loan repayments). The remaining program income balance must be $0, with no expected change, for an RLF Grant to be Closed.

1	CAR must meet general supplemental funding criteria identified above and have an uncommitted funding balance that does not exceed $750,000.
2	CAR’s RLF program (open, post-closeout, and closed grants) must have at least 3 sites which are in process or have achieved cleanup.
3	CAR must have revolved program income generated from open, post-closeout, and/or closed RLF grant(s) into at least one executed loan or subgrant. Note: EPA anticipates the revolved amount must be at least $100,000 to receive more than $2 million in supplemental funding.
4	CAR’s RLF program (open, post-closeout, and closed grants) must have at least 2 sites that positively impacted underserved communities.

3. Each CAR will receive a new cooperative agreement that is separate from their existing RLF cooperative agreement, unless the CAR has already received an IIJA-funded RLF cooperative agreement. In that case, the CAR would receive an amendment to its IIJA-funded cooperative agreement.

4. All new RLF cooperative agreements awarded will include a revised Closeout Agreement (COA) based on EPA’s FY22 COA Template (see Fact Sheet for more details). EPA will require the CAR to operate the RLF program under a single COA based on the FY22 COA Template. That is, for CARs that have existing COAs, all post-closeout program income the CAR currently has (from past RLF Grants where the period of performance has ended) or will have in the future (from any open RLF Grants when the period of performance ends), will be combined and governed by a single COA with a COA tracking number that is usually based on the oldest, original grant number. 

• IMPORTANT NOTICE:  Although the CAR will have up to 30 days after award to sign the new COA, if the CAR has post-closeout program income in their RLF program and is selected for an FY23 supplemental funding award, the CAR must be prepared to complete post-closeout reporting requirements for FY23 per the new COA. That is, no later than October 31, 2023, the CAR must submit their annual Post-Closeout Report and complete ACRES reporting of post-closeout program income balances as of September 30, 2023. EPA expects to provide recorded webinar training on this new process in early calendar year 2023.
• In addition, CARs with large amounts of post-closeout program income may want to update to the FY22 COA sooner, in order to take advantage of the new eligible uses of funds and other programmatic flexibilities. By doing so, a CAR may be able to lower its post-closeout program income balance quicker, thereby allowing the CAR to meet the supplemental funding criteria identified in #1 and/or #2 above. Contact your EPA project officer if you are interested in updating to the FY22 COA now.

5. Potential for a waiver: If a large loan repayment is made after January 1, 2023, which causes the CAR not to meet these supplemental funding criteria (e.g., those funds are designated for a particular site but cannot be committed/expended by the date supplemental funding requests are due), the CAR may request a waiver to the criteria by providing justification with their supplemental funding request.

FY 2023 Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, and Cleanup Grant Competitions

July 2022 - EPA anticipates issuing the following solicitations for funding in September 2022:

• FY 2023 Multipurpose Grants
• FY 2023 Assessment Grants
• FY 2023 Revolving Loan Fund Grants
• FY 2023 Cleanup Grants

The application submission deadline will be approximately 60 calendar days after the solicitations are published. Please find the most recent policy changes below.

For additional information on each grant type, visit the Types of Brownfield Grant Funding page.

EPA anticipates offering awarding grants at the following amounts in FY 2023. All amounts are subject to change.

Grant Type	Maximum Project Period	Maximum Amount Per Grant	Estimated # of Awards	Total Per Grant Type  - Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funds	Total Per Grant Type  - Regular Appropriated Funds
Multipurpose	5 years	$800,000	17		$14.0 M
Community-wide Assessment Grants for State and Tribes	5 years	$2,000,000	17	$35.0 M
Assessment Coalitions	4 years	$1,000,000	20		$20.0 M
Community-wide Assessment – New*	4 years	$500,000	36		$18.0 M
Community-wide Assessment – Existing**	4 years	$500,000	25		$12.5 M
RLF – New***	5 years	$1,000,000	10	$10.0 M
Cleanup	4 years	$500,000	40	$20.0 M
Cleanup	4 years	$1,000,000	25	$25.0 M
Cleanup	4 years	$2,000,000	8	$15.0 M

* Community-wide Assessment - New = Entities that have never received an EPA Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, or Cleanup Grant, or that were awarded a Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, or Cleanup Grant that closed in 2014 or earlier.

** Community-wide Assessment - Existing = Entities that have an open Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, or Cleanup Grant, or that were awarded a Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, or Cleanup Grant that closed in 2015 or later.

*** RLF New = Entities that do not have or are not part of (i.e., a coalition member) an open cooperative agreement for a Brownfields RLF at the time of application.

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If you are interested in applying for more than one grant type in FY 2023, please review the FY 2023 Eligibility Chart for Multiple Applications (pdf) (35.36 KB) to determine which other grants are available to you.

If you currently have an EPA Brownfields Grant and are interested in applying for an FY 2023 grant, please review the FY23 Eligibility Chart for Existing Grant Recipients (pdf) (37.25 KB) to determine which other grants are available to you.

• A new solicitation for Site-specific Assessment Grants will not be available in FY 2023.
• Entities interested in applying for a Site-specific Assessment Grant should consider applying for an FY 2023 Community-wide Assessment Grant.

Assessment Coalition Grants 

• A new solicitation for Assessment Coalition Grants will be available in FY 2023.
• The lead entity must be a state, county government, Indian Tribe other than in Alaska, an Alaska Native Regional Corporation, an Alaska Native Village Corporation regional, the Metlakatla Indian community, regional council established under a governmental authority (e.g., regional planning commissions), or a group of general purpose units of local government established under Federal, state or local law (e.g., councils of governments) to function as a single legal entity with authority to enter into binding agreements with the Federal Government.
• A state entity may only be the lead member of the coalition.
• The coalition must have at least two, but not more than four, non-lead members.
• Entities that have an open (i.e., the grant period of performance has not ended) Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, or Cleanup (MARC) Grant and entities that were awarded a MARC Grant that closed in 2015 or later, are not eligible to be a non-lead coalition member.
• The members of the coalition may not be an agency or instrumentality of themselves (for example, a county and the redevelopment authority of the same county); except for coalitions in which the state is the lead and one of the members is a regional council or regional commission that is created by a state legislature through a charter or another official action.
• EPA encourages coalitions to include eligible community-based nonprofit organizations as non-lead members to help promote strong local engagement and to ensure the community’s concerns and vision for revitalization are incorporated into the project.

Community-wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes

• Awards will be funded with Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. Therefore, activities carried out at each approved, eligible site may exceed $200,000.
• Entities that were awarded an FY 2022 Community-wide Assessment Grant for States and Tribes are not eligible to apply for any type of Assessment Grant funding in FY 2023.

Revolving Loan Fund Grants 

• Awards will be funded with Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds, therefore, the 20% statutory cost share requirement is waived.

Cleanup Grants

• Awards will be funded with Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds, therefore, the 20% statutory cost share requirement is waived.
• In past competition cycles, applicants were required to obtain a letter from the State/Tribal Environmental Authority acknowledging the applicant’s intent to apply for Brownfields Grant funding. There will be an enhanced requirement for Cleanup Grant applicants to demonstrate that the proposed site(s) has been sufficiently characterized for the cleanup to begin. EPA will categorize applicants in three buckets:

1. If the applicant is a State or Tribal Environmental Authority, EPA will not require a letter, however, the applicant will be required to include a statement in response to the threshold criterion affirming that there is a sufficient level of site characterization from the environmental site assessment performed to date (or will be by June 15, 2023) for the remediation work to begin on the site(s).
2. An applicant other than a State or Tribal Environmental Authority that is proposing a site(s) that is eligible to be enrolled in a voluntary response program, will be required to attach a current letter from the appropriate State or Tribal Environmental Authority (or equivalent state or Tribal regulatory oversight authority) that: (i) Affirms that the site(s) is eligible to be enrolled in the state or Tribal voluntary response program; (ii) whether the site(s) is enrolled, or intends to be enrolled, in the state or tribal voluntary response program; and (ii) Indicates that there is a sufficient level of site characterization from the environmental site assessment performed to date (or will be by June 15, 2023) for the remediation work to begin on the site(s).
3. For an applicant other than a State or Tribal Environmental Authority that is proposing a site(s) that is not eligible to be enrolled in a voluntary response program or State or Tribal equivalent oversight program (e.g., sites contaminated with hazardous building material) will be required to: (i) Attach a current letter from the appropriate State or Tribal Environmental Authority (or equivalent state or Tribal regulatory oversight authority) that explains why the site(s) is not eligible to be enrolled. (ii) State in response to the threshold criterion whether an Environmental Professional (as defined in 40 CFR 312.10) has certified that there is a sufficient level of site characterization from the environmental site assessment performed to date (or will be by June 15, 2023) for the remediation work to begin on the site(s).

EPA only needs one letter per applicant and the letter must be included with the application that is submitted by the deadline.

Multipurpose, Assessment, and RLF Grant applicants will only be required to provide a letter from the appropriate state or Tribal environmental authority acknowledging that the applicant plans to conduct activities and is planning to apply for FY 2023 Brownfields Grant funds.

Participant Support Costs 

• Participant Support Costs are available under the Assessment and Multipurpose Grants.
• EPA recognizes that effective community engagement is a vital process in sustainable community revitalization to help alleviate concerns for citizens and give them a voice in their community's future. A community liaison can serve as a key resource to help ensure the citizens' goals and interests are reflected in the planned reuse of individual brownfield sites and well as the revitalization of the areas in which they live, work, play, learn, and pray.  
• Recipients may use a portion of the Assessment or Multipurpose Grant for eligible participant support costs associated with one community liaison per target area who is not an employee of the recipient. This may include reasonable stipends to compensate an individual community member(s) time and travel costs for participating in project-related meetings (e.g., meetings with the community, meetings held by a brownfields advisory board, etc.) and time associated with other specific tasks that are directly tied to related community engagement efforts. Note that stipends may only be paid for actual time spent working on tasks associated with the project and must not duplicate support provided through other Federal, state, Tribal, or local programs.  

Additional information on participant support costs is available in EPA’s Guidance on Participant Support Costs.

FY 2022 Assessment, RLF, and Cleanup Grant Competitions

May 12, 2022 -  Entities that submitted an application for an FY 2022 Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and/or Cleanup Grant will be notified of their selection in May 2022. Entities that are selected will work with EPA to negotiate a workplan and finalize documents for the award. Entities that are selected and decline the award may not be eligible for a grant of any type in the FY 2023 Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grant competition including funds made available under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

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Brownfields Job Training Program

May 5, 2022 - With the increase in funding available to the EPA Brownfields Program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Program provides the information below to help current and future Job Training Grant recipients as they consider applying for new funding opportunities to provide training in cleanup and remediation activities. EPA is making the following changes to our Brownfields Job Training Program beginning in FY 2023:

1. The maximum dollar value for the Job Training Grant awards increased from $200,000 to $500,000. Eligible entities are now able to request up to $500,000 in funding. Due to the larger award amount, OBLR will extend the grant performance period up to 5 years.

2. In addition to transportation stipends, reasonable stipends to compensate trainees for participating in training and reasonable child-care subsidies are now eligible uses of grant funds. Please be sure to the check the FY 2023 Grant Guidelines and EPA Guidance on Participant Support Costs for additional information on limitations on stipends and other participant support costs.

3. Applicants that were selected for an FY 2022 Job Training Grant are eligible to submit an application for the FY 2023 grant competition. There is no supplemental funding available for existing Brownfield Job Training Grant recipients. Any existing grant recipient interested in the larger grants must compete again.

July 2021 - EPA’s Brownfields Job Training Grant Program is refocusing the competition on training activities that support assessment, cleanup, and preparation of brownfield sites for reuse. As part of that change, the former Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Program will now be called the Brownfields Job Training Program. Starting Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22), funding will be available solely through EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization and under the authorities of CERCLA § 104(k)(7). Other funding sources from other EPA program offices will no longer be available to fund this program. Training courses proposed by applicants as part of their curriculum must have a nexus to brownfields-related work to be eligible for funding. Please be sure to consult Section I of the FY22 Brownfields Job Training Grant Guidelines to see what courses are eligible and ineligible for funding.

Additional information on the requirements to apply for funding are available at EPA’s Brownfields Job Training Grants Program.