The Department of Public Lands, the lead agency that applies for the funding used to clean up contaminated lands, said it submitted three separate grant applications last February.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfield program director, Pankaj Arora, disclosed last week that the funding provided to the CNMI since 2006 is getting close to $1 million.
DPL submitted a grant application for a $350,000 Brownfield project that will be conducted at the new location of the Tinian landfill.
DPL also submitted two other applications for two community-wide Brownfield projects: $200,000 for site assessment on hazardous substance, and $200,000 for possible petroleum contamination.
Division of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Reina Camacho said the CNMI was awarded $200,000 last year for the Marpi Brownfield site cleanup.
This was in addition to the $550,000 for a hazardous substance and petroleum cleanup grant that the EPA awarded the CNMI in Dec. 2006.
EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced recently the availability of an estimated $111.9 million in grants from the federal stimulus law, or American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
She said two U.S. territories will get portions of this money to help revitalize public lands.
The CNMI is among the 252 applicants of these grants and is one of the two U.S. territories that will a get a share of the funds.
