FY27 Guidelines for Brownfield Assessment Grants (Community-wide Assessment Grants)

This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities to prevent, inventory, assess, and plan for the cleanup and reuse of brownfield sites. Eligible entities include government organizations, Federally recognized Tribes, and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. Please see Section 2.A. for the complete list of eligible entities. Applications must meet all threshold eligibility criteria in Section 2.B. to be considered eligible to receive a Community-wide Assessment Grant.

Assessment Grants provide funding for developing inventories of brownfield sites, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities, conducting planning, conducting site assessments, developing site-specific cleanup plans, and developing reuse plans related to brownfield sites. A portion of the Assessment Grant funding must be used to conduct site assessments. Assessment Grant funds may not be used to conduct cleanup activities. Community-wide Assessment Grants are appropriate for communities that are beginning to address their brownfield challenges, as well as for communities that have ongoing efforts to bring sites into productive reuse.

Applicants may request funding up to $500,000 to address sites contaminated (or potentially contaminated) by hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants, including hazardous substances comingled with petroleum, and/or petroleum. To be eligible for Brownfield Grant funding, sites must meet the definition of a brownfield site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) § 101(39) and site eligibility requirements as described in the Information on Sites Eligible for Brownfields Funding under CERCLA § 104(k). For the purposes of this funding opportunity, the cost of site-specific activities carried out at each approved, eligible site may not exceed $200,000 per site. EPA will determine site eligibility after the award of the grant throughout the project period.