Staff Writer
CARIBOU — A new program through the Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC) aims to assist brownfield owners in cleaning up their sites through a new $1,000,000 revolving loan program created from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding. The Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund (BCRLF) utilizes information obtained through a previously existing brownfield assessment program conducted by NMDC and provides a financial vehicle that aims to help provide funding for the cleanup of designated brownfields.
According to the EPA, a brownfield is “…real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.”
“[The BCRLF] is not just to get businesses going,” said NMDC Loan Officer Julie Corey, “it’s to redevelop and reuse a piece of land.”
For whatever the reason the brownfield was created, current property owners — municipalities included — that have brownfields that were existent when the property was purchased can apply for assistance through NMDC.
Through the brownfield assessment program, which has been active for about two years, there have been eight phase-one assessments and four phase-two assessments; phase one assessments obtain focus primarily on the specifics of the property and phase two is more along the lines of sample-taking field work.
“These sites are eyesores, and the [BCRLF] piggy-backs the assessment program and takes it one step further by not only cleaning the site up, but by doing hazardous material cleanups as well,” Corey said.
According to Corey, many of the identified brownfield locations have Main Street locations.
“I see this as being a valuable program,” said Houlton Town Manager Doug Hazlett. “In most communities of our size, there are brownfields that could be returned to economically productive locations.”
Additional information can be obtained on brownfields at www.NMDC.org and clicking on the northern Maine brownfields link. Additional program information can be obtained by contacting Corey at 498-8736 or jcorey@nmdc.org.
