Penn-Northwest receives $500,000 grant from EPA for Brownfield projects

Penn-Northwest has received $500,000 in grant funds from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Brownfields Grant.

Penn-Northwest founder Rod Wilt says this is huge for Mercer County and these funds will be used to assist the local business community over the coming fiscal year.

Wilt tells 21 News Penn-Northwest has received these funds in previous years and the funds can be used to conduct assessments on properties to see if any remediation is needed. The funds cannot be used for the actual remediation process, however.

In years past, once the funds were announced, Wilt says various manufacturers looking to either buy or sell a property reached out to Penn-Northwest asking for an environmental assessment.

Since the receipt of these funds has now been made public, Wilt expects assessment requests to come in very soon.

A brownfield is a property whose expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. According to the release, it is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S.