NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Robert Menendez today announced the awarding of a combined $1,344,710 in federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants to Neptune Township and Camden, New Jersey, providing them with funding to assess, clean, and redevelop contaminated properties in their respective communities.

“Far too many New Jersey communities are home to contaminated properties that have a negative impact on public health, economic growth, and the fabric of our communities,” said Sen. Booker. “I am pleased that Neptune and Camden were selected to receive these much-needed federal dollars to assess contamination, take the necessary action to clean up these sites, and improve the quality of life for residents of these communities.”

“What makes these investments so important is not just that they help communities assess and clean-up abandoned, contaminated industrial sites, but they also provide opportunities to transform these eyesores into assets for the entire community,” said Sen. Menendez. “I look forward to seeing the positive impact – whether in new jobs, open spaces, affordable housing, services and more – created in both Neptune and Camden.”

Neptune Township will receive a $200,000 hazardous substance assessment grant and a $200,000 petroleum assessment grant to evaluate environmental contamination in at least 11 abandoned sites throughout the Township. Camden will receive three cleanup grant awards and one assessment grant totaling $944,710. The Camden Redevelopment Agency will use the funding for the revitalization of a 3.6 acre mercury and lead-contaminated industrial site into mixed residential and commercial use.

Brownfields funding helps communities clean up and reuse brownfield sites to produce community assets such as housing, recreation and open space, health facilities, and to create employment, education, social services, transportation options, infrastructure and commerce opportunities.

Since the inception of the EPA’s Brownfields Program in 1995, cumulative brownfield program investments have leveraged more than $22 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities. This equates to an average of $17.79 leveraged per EPA brownfield dollar expended. These investments have resulted in approximately 105,942 jobs nationwide. EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields sites.