Posted on: Friday, June 18, 2004

State gets money for cleanups

Associated Press

The federal government has awarded $796,000 to redevelop "brownfields" in Hawai'i.

Brownfields are sites that have actual or perceived contamination and potential for redevelopment or reuse.

The Environmental Protection Agency said this week it has given a $400,000 grant to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, as well as $196,000 to Kaua'i County.

Among other things, the money will be used to inventory and assess brownfield sites.

Among the recipients was the Anahola Homesteaders Council on Kaua'i, which received $196,334. The grant will be used to clean up 20 acres of former sugarcane land contaminated with arsenic and mercuric compounds in pesticides and herbicides.

The grants were part of the largest brownfields financing announcement in the EPA's history, the agency said. In all, the EPA awarded $75.4 million to 265 recipients nationwide.