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Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) announced today that Bay City has been awarded a $200,000 grant to finance cleanup activities at a brownfield site. As part of the Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Bay City a loan to revitalize and rejuvenate a former industrial area in southeastern Michigan.
“This loan will help fund the cleanup activities that are necessary in order to revitalize and redevelop these abandoned and contaminated properties,” said Kildee. “We must provide resources to maintain and preserve the health of the environment so that these areas can be safely used by future occupants.”
Bay City will use these funds to clean up petroleum contamination at the Labadie property, which is one of the properties that the city intends to redevelop as part of the Uptown at RiversEdge waterfront redevelopment. The site is contaminated with petroleum products from its historical use as an automobile body shop. The city hopes that the Uptown at RiversEdge complex will create jobs, attract visitors to the city’s riverfront, and spur reinvestment in a blighted neighborhood. Prior to receipt of these funds in fiscal year 2003, Bay City received brownfields funding for an assessment grant.
The EPA’s Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to enable states to work together with other agencies to prevent, assess and safely clean up brownfield sites for economic redevelopment. The program specifically focuses on distressed communities that are in need of economic and environmental rehabilitation. | 
