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National Brownfields Program (Part B): Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants - FY 2025

Agency: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
CFDA: 66.818
Federal FON: EPA-I-OLEM-OBLR-24-10
Office: Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR)
Multipart Grant: Yes
Next Due: 11/14/2024 (Application)
Solicitation Date: 09/03/2024
   
Match Required: Recommended
Match Type: Unspecified
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $15,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $800,000 (Min) / $1,000,000 (Max)
Number of Awards: 15 (Estimated)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support the revitalization of brownfield sites by providing awards for site assessment and cleanup, as well as revolving loan funds. For the purposes of this program, a brownfield site is defined as real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, controlled substances, or petroleum or petroleum products, or is mine-scarred land.

Funding will be provided for the following program components:

  • (Part A): Assessment Grants (Community-Wide Assessment Grants)
  • (Part B): Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants
  • (Part C): Cleanup Grants
  • (Part E): Assessment Grants (Community-Wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes)
  • (Part F): Assessment Grants (Assessment Coalition Grants)

The purpose of the Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants component is to allow award recipients to capitalize an RLF program that will provide no-interest or low-interest loans and subgrants to eligible entities for carrying out cleanup activities at brownfield sites contaminated with hazardous substances and/or petroleum. Revolving loan funds are designed to operate for many years, possibly decades, and require long-term commitments from award recipients.

Award recipients must have a strong understanding of real estate financing principles and approaches, including loan underwriting, loan servicing, and credit analysis, and must have the ability to market the RLF program on an ongoing basis during the project period and after closeout. Recipients must also commit to properly managing funds and income generated by their RLF program in perpetuity, unless they terminate their closeout agreement and return any remaining program income to the funding agency.

In addition to direct costs associated with the cleanup of a brownfield site, funding may be used for direct costs associated with programmatic management of the award, limited health monitoring and enforcement activities, and purchases of environmental insurance.

An optional webinar is scheduled for this component, and optional technical assistance calls are available. Refer to the Application section for details.

Last Updated: June 16, 2025

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are:

  • General purpose units of local government
  • Land clearance authorities or other quasi-governmental entities acting as an agent of, or under the supervision and control of, a general purpose unit of local government
  • Government entities created by a state legislature
  • Regional councils or groups of general purpose units of local government
  • Redevelopment agencies that are chartered or otherwise sanctioned by a state
  • States
  • Indian tribes other than those in Alaska and intertribal consortia comprised of eligible Indian tribes
  • Alaska Native regional corporations, Alaska Native village corporations, and the Metlakatla Indian community
  • 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Limited liability corporations in which all managing members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or limited liability corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Limited liability partnerships in which all general partners are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or limited liability corporations whose sole members are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Qualified community development entities, as defined in Section 45D(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code

For the purposes of this program, states include the District of Columbia, as well as any U.S. territory, including American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A coalition of two or more eligible entities may apply; however, one entity must be designated as the lead applicant. The non-lead members may not be an agency or instrumentality of or affiliated with the lead member, except for coalitions in which the state is the lead and one of the members is a regional council or regional commission that is created by a state legislature through a charter or another official action.

Coalition members may not be members of other coalition applications, and may not submit an application as an individual applicant. Coalition members wishing to apply as part of a different coalition or as an individual applicant must withdraw from the coalition.

Applicants may not submit multiple applications under this component. The funding agency considers departments, agencies, or instrumentalities of the same state, tribal, or city governments to be the same applicant if they are directly supervised or controlled by the same elected/appointed executive.

Entities applying for this component may not apply to this program's Cleanup Grants component, known in eCivis Grants Network as US0079C.

The following are ineligible:

  • Entities that have, or that are a part of, an open cooperative agreement through this component
  • For-profit organizations
  • 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that are engaged in lobbying
  • Nonprofit organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) status

Previous award recipients include:

  • Livingston County (NY)
  • Ark-Tex Council of Governments (TX)
  • Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CO)
  • Alabama Department of Environmental Management (AL)
  • South Florida Regional Planning Council (FL)

Refer to the Award file for additional information regarding previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:
Local Government
Consortia
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
Schools/School Districts
State Government
Tribal Organizations/Institutions
Application Notes:

Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on November 14, 2024.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Applications must include:

  • SF 424
  • SF 424A
  • EPA Key Contacts Form 5700-54
  • EPA Form 4700-4
  • Narrative information sheet (3 pages max)
  • Letter from the state or tribal environmental authority (if applicable)
  • Narrative (12 pages max)
  • Threshold criteria responses, as detailed on page 26 of the NOFA file
  • Grants.gov lobbying form (if applicable)
  • Negotiated/proposed indirect cost rate agreement (if applicable)
  • Signed letter of commitment from each coalition member or active memorandum of agreement (MOA) (if applicable)

The narrative and narrative information sheet must be typed on standard-sized, single-spaced pages, using a 12-point standard Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri font. If possible, the narrative information sheet, threshold responses, and narrative should be submitted as one file.

The following are required in order to submit an application:

  • Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
  • SAM (System for Award Management) registration
  • SPOC (state Single Point of Contact) notification

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam. Applicants in states participating in the SPOC program must contact the relevant SPOC listed in the SPOC file before applying.

Applicants may email optional draft applications for review to the appropriate address provided in the Contact section by November 1, 2024.

Optional technical assistance calls may be scheduled online at calendly.com.

An optional webinar is scheduled for this component as follows:

September 24, 2024
Noon ET
Call-in: (646) 828-7666
Meeting ID: 161 402 2736
URL: usepa.zoomgov.com

Recordings of webinars held for this program can be found online at epa.gov/applicationresources and epa.gov/brownfields.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Project area description and plans for revitalization (45 points)
  • Community need and community engagement (40 points)
  • Task descriptions, cost estimates, and measuring progress (65 points)
  • Programmatic capability and past performance (40 points)

Refer to the NOFA file for additional application information.

Match Required: Recommended
Match Type: Unspecified
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $15,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $800,000 (Min) / $1,000,000 (Max)
Number of Awards: 15 (Estimated)
Match Notes:

Matching funds are not required for this component, and voluntary cost sharing will not be accepted; however, the applicant's strategy for leveraging resources will be considered during the application evaluation process.

Funding Notes:

An unspecified amount of funding is available for this program overall, with an estimated $15 million available to support an estimated 15 cooperative agreements ranging from $800,000 to $1 million through this component.

Award notifications are expected to be issued by late spring 2025. The time between award notification and issuance of the award may take up to 90 days or longer.

The project period is up to five years.

Award recipients must use at least 50 percent of award funds to provide loans for the cleanup of eligible brownfield sites and associated eligible programmatic capability.

Local governments may use up to 10 percent of their award funds for health monitoring of populations exposed to hazardous substances from a brownfield site, as well as monitoring and enforcement of any institutional control used to prevent human exposure to any hazardous substance from a brownfield site.

Administrative costs, with the exception of financial and performance reporting costs, are limited to 5 percent of the total award amount.

Award recipients may not use funds to provide discounted loans to themselves; however, recipients may provide subawards of up to $500,000 per site to other coalition members, as detailed on page 6 of the NOFA file.

Funds may not be used for:

  • Direct costs for application preparation
  • Penalties or fines
  • A federal cost-share requirement
  • Response costs at a brownfield site for which the award recipient is potentially liable under section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)
  • Costs of compliance with any federal law, excluding the cost of compliance with laws applicable to the cleanup
  • Unallowable costs, such as lobbying, under Title 2, Part 200, Subpart E of the CFR
  • Marketing brownfield properties for redevelopment
  • Area-wide zoning and/or design guideline development that is unrelated to advancing cleanup and reuse of brownfields in the project area
  • Area-wide master planning, community visioning, or comprehensive planning that are unrelated to advancing cleanup and reuse of brownfields in the project area
  • Questionnaire design, distribution, or collection

Refer to page 48 of the FAQ file for information regarding additional ineligible costs.

For FY 2025, a total of $267 million was distributed through this program overall. For FY 2023, a total of $215 million was distributed via 267 awards through this program overall. For FY 2022, a total of $147.5 million was distributed via 237 awards through this program overall. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Elyse Salinas
brownfields@epa.gov

Agency Address
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20460

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to Elyse Salinas, or to the appropriate regional contact listed on page 55 of the NOFA file.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Optional draft applications must be emailed to [email protected].

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
NOFA File: US0079B_NOFA_FY2025.pdf (692.5 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079B_SampleApp_FY2025.pdf (2.1 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079B_Overview_FY2025.pdf (199.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079B_FAQ_FY2025.pdf (2.0 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079B_ChangesSummary_FY2025.pdf (243.7 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079B_EligibilityChart_FY2025.pdf (177.4 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079B_WebinarTranscript_FY2025.pdf (133.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079B_WebinarTranscript2_FY2025.pdf (103.9 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US0079B_WebinarPresentation_FY2025.zip (7.9 Mb)
Award File: US0079B_Award_FY2025.pdf (2.6 Mb)
Federal Forms:
SPOC (67.7 Kb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this component. The SampleApp file contains a sample of federal forms for the application and should be used for reference purposes only. The Overview file contains general program information, including information regarding an optional webinar scheduled for this component. The FAQ file contains a list of answers to frequently asked questions regarding this program overall. The ChangesSummary file contains a summary of changes to guidelines for this program overall for FY 2025. The EligibilityChart file contains an eligibility chart for this program overall. The WebinarTranscript and WebinarTranscript2 files contain transcripts from the webinars held for this program. The WebinarPresentation folder contains presentation slides for the webinars held for this component and this program overall. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients. The SPOC file contains information on the state Single Point of Contact program. Additional program resources can be found online at www.epa.gov/brownfields.

June 16, 2025
Information regarding awards through this program overall has been released and appended to the Award file. A sample of award recipients has been added to the Eligibility section, and a brief summary of the awards has been added to the Financial section.

October 21, 2024
Slides from a webinar held for this program overall have been released and attached as the OverviewWebinarPresentation file in the WebinarPresentation folder. The Application and Contact sections have been updated accordingly. A recording of a webinar held for this program has also been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section.

October 4, 2024
Transcripts from the webinars held for this program have been released and attached as the WebinarTranscript and WebinarTranscript2 files.

September 25, 2024
A recording of the webinar for this component has been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section. In addition, presentation slides for the webinar have been released and attached as the RankingCriteriaWebinarPresentation file in the WebinarPresentation folder.

Project: Ann Street Railroad Corridor Redevelopment Project (8.0 Mb)
Applicant: City of Delevan
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to provide revolving loan funds to units of government that can be provided as no interest or low-interest loans for private entities to complete brownfield projects.  The City of Delevan requested $625,000 to purchase the Borg building for demolition in order to build a stormwater management corridor.

 
Grant Keywords
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Grant Categories
Community Development
Economic Development
Hazardous Waste/Remediation/Brownfields
Environment/Natural Resources