Agency:Environmental Quality

September 19, 2018 

Contact:
Andrea Ryswick, MDEQ Brownfield Coordinator, RyswickA@michigan.gov,  616-401-0827
Tiffany Brown, MDEQ Public Information Officer, BrownT22@michigan.gov, 517-284-6716

LANSING, MICH.  A busy corner lot in the City of Grand Haven will be evaluated for potential environmental contamination with the help of a $30,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). The site, located at Washington and Beechtree Streets, was most recently an ice cream shop. 

The grant will help the city determine whether the gas station, which has been closed for 80 years, contaminated the soil or groundwater. Once the environmental condition is known, the property can be sold to a new purchaser.  If the property is contaminated, the brownfield grant will help estimate cleanup needs and costs and help protect the new owner from liability for contamination.

The MDEQ partners with communities to protect public health and the environment and revitalize contaminated property. MDEQ grants and loans pay for environmental investigation and cleanup on brownfields.  Brownfields are vacant or abandoned properties with known or suspected environmental contamination.

Partnerships between MDEQ and communities have created $4 billion in private investment and 29,000 new jobs over the life of the Brownfield Redevelopment Program. Each grant and loan dollar invested by the MDEQ in 2017 to protect residents and the environment is expected to return an average of $32 to the state’s economy. When brownfields are redeveloped, property values increase both on the revitalized site and on other nearby properties. Learn more at www.michigan.gov/deqbrownfields.