Grant to Help Talbot IDA

A grant received by the River Valley Regional Commission (RVRC) will help Talbot and Marion counties.
According to the RVRC news release, the River Valley Regional Commission has been selected to receive a $1,500,000 Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Coalition members include the Development Authority of Marion County and the Industrial Development Authority of Talbot County. The US EPA Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities to assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse contaminated properties.
Funding will be used to inventory sites, conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, develop cleanup plans, reuse assessments, and area-wide plans, and to support community engagement activities.
Assessment activities will focus on the cities of Lumpkin, Buena Vista, and Junction City.
Priority sites include two historic buildings and a former dynamite and oil storage site in Lumpkin, the Marion County Industrial Park and former Tyson plant in Buena Vista, the Talbot County Industrial Park, and a former surface mining site in Junction City.
Other potential brownfield properties in the target areas include former filling stations, industrial facilities, agricultural processing plants, lumber mills, school buildings, and commercial facilities.
Should all brownfield sites within the target areas be fully addressed with the grant funding, any remaining funding will be made available to other River Valley communities for assessment activities.
The grant is anticipated to be awarded in October and continue through September of 2030.