Louisiana projects receive Brownfields revitalization funds

DALLAS, Texas (KTAL/KMSS)—Five Louisiana recipients will receive Brownfields Grant Funding to assess, clean, and revitalize local properties.

The Acadiana Planning Commission will receive $1.2 million to develop five cleanup plans. Assessment will focus on the City of Ville Platte, the Downtown Main Street neighborhood of the City of Opelousas, the City of Abbeville’s Economic Opportunity Zone, and the City of Eunice’s St. Landry Corridor. Priority sites include the Old Abdalla’s Department Store in Opelousas, the Riviana Rice Mill in Abbeville, and the historic Hotel Mayer in St. Landry.

The DeSoto Parish Police Jury will receive $1.2 million to develop six cleanup plans. Grand Cane, the City of Mansfield, and the Village of South Mansfield will be assessed. The priority sites include a 40-acre former Military Auxiliary Landing Strip, the former DeSoto Plaza Shopping Center, and the former Oak Hill Commissary.

$3,491,144 will go to the Gulf Coast Housing Partnership, Inc., to clean up the former Benjamin Banneker Elementary School in the City of River Ridge.

It is named after Benjamin Banneker, a free black man and one of the earliest civil rights advocates. The mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs, and farmer helped survey territory for the U.S. capital. The site was home to an elementary school, later used as a police substation and training academy, and has been unused since 2008. All structures on the site were demolished in 2022. The site is contaminated with chloroform and naphthalene in soil vapor.

Lafourche Parish will receive $500,000 for efforts in the Town of Lockport and the community of Raceland. Priority sites include two former fuel stations and a vacant and used boat and automobile maintenance facility.

The City of Leesville will receive $500,000 for the Nolan Trace Corridor. Priority sites include Old State School and a former 911 Call Center.

Collectively, the Louisiana recipients will receive over $6.8 million.

The Environmental Protection Agency‘s (EPA) Brownfields Program began in 1995 and exists to “assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse.” Since its inception, the program has provided nearly $2.9 billion for these efforts.