The city of Missoula will get $1.1 million in federal grants to support environmental cleanup and property rehabilitation in and around a contaminated Montana Rail Link Park site.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it’s awarding Missoula two Brownfields grants, an $800,000 revolving loan fund grant and an additional cleanup grant worth more than $320,000.
EPA Brownfields grants are used to safely clean up and sustainably reuse contaminated properties.
The Montana Rail Link Triangle site is a former maintenance property that is polluted with chemical compounds, inorganic contaminants, and heavy metals.
The EPA cleanup grant will be used to remove hazardous wastes from the site and the revolving loan fund grant will support continued community efforts to clean and revitalize the city’s Westside railroad neighborhood.
In a press call with EPA officials, Missoula Mayor John Engen said the funding would open up possibilities for mixed income development.
"More people living in a quality neighborhood in a place they can afford that provides them access to services," Engen said.
In the city’s grant application, Missoula said cleanup of the site is expected to be completed by Sept. 2021
City officials said it was too early to know if cleanup work would be delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The EPA is distributing another $1.5 million in Brownfields grant funding to other local and tribal grantees across Montana.
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