The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has received funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Program for research to advance the science of characterizing arsenic at mine-scarred land sites. This grant provides up to $150,000 annually for five years.
The Sierra Fund supported the proposal for this Training, Research and Technical Assistance grant. One of the main research needs identified in our Mining’s Toxic Legacy report is characterization of the arsenic in Sierra soils, which is naturally occurring, but was extensively disturbed and distributed through historic mining activities. Characterization is a key step in determining how dangerous this arsenic is to human health.
According the EPA’s fact sheet, the Brownfields Program empowers states, tribes, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site 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. EPA funds eligible applicants through assistance agreements to provide training, research, and technical assistance to facilitate brownfields revitalization.
On September 3, the US EPA announced ten grants of more than $1.5 million to support brownfields assessment, cleanup and revitalization across the country.
For more information see http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/ or http://www.epa.gov/brownfields or call DTSC at 916-255-3730.
