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Contamination Cleanup and Investigation Grants

Program Overview

The Contamination Cleanup and Investigation Grant Program helps communities pay for assessing and cleaning up contaminated sites for private or public redevelopment.

Grants pay up to 75% of the costs to investigate and clean up polluted sites. Both publicly and privately owned sites with known or suspected soil or groundwater contamination qualify.

Cities, port authorities, housing and redevelopment authorities, economic development authorities, or counties are eligible.

  • Program Information

    Applications are due by 4:00 p.m., May 1 and November 1 each year.

    Who is eligible?

    Eligible applicants for this program are statutory or home rule charter cities, economic development authorities, housing and redevelopment authorities, counties, or port authorities. While these are the eligible applicants, the site can be either privately or publicly owned.

    What sites are eligible?

    A site must meet each of the following criteria to qualify for a Contamination Cleanup Grant:

    • A grant may not be given to a municipality in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area unless it is participating in the Metropolitan Council Local Housing Incentives Program. For information on participating in the Local Housing Incentives Program, visit their website.
    • A site may not be scheduled for funding under the Federal Superfund Program (U.S. Code 42 Sec. 9601 et seq.) or the Minnesota Environmental Response and Liability Act (Minn. Stat. 115B.01 to 115B.24) under the current or next fiscal year.
    • A site must contain contaminants, pollutants or hazardous substances as referenced in Minn. Stat. 115B.02 or petroleum that is not eligible for reimbursement from the Minnesota Petrofund. A site must also have a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) approved RAP. Asbestos abatement in buildings does not qualify under this grant program unless it is part of demolition necessary for RAP implementation.
    • Finally, to qualify for this grant program, it is expected that the site will be improved with buildings or other improvements within a reasonable period of time, and that these buildings or improvements will provide a substantial increase in the property tax base or will be used for an important publicly owned or tax-exempt facility. The final development of polluted sites may include, for example, commercial, industrial, office or housing development.

    Eligible Costs

    The Contamination Cleanup Grant can pay up to 75% of the cost of cleaning contamination defined under the Minnesota Superfund law (Minn. Stat. 115B.02), as well as petroleum contamination.

    Cleanup Costs: Includes the costs of developing and implementing a response action plan but does not include implementation costs incurred before the award of a grant unless the application for the grant was submitted within 180 days after the response action plan was approved by the commissioner of the pollution control agency.

    Project Costs: Includes the cleanup costs for the site (see above definition), and the cost of related site acquisition, demolition of existing improvements, and installation of public improvements, if necessary, for the applicant to implement the response action plan.

    Examples of eligible and ineligible costs include:

    • Eligible Costs, if necessary, to implement the Response Action Plan (RAP)
      • Investigation – match only, and if not already funded under a DEED Investigation and RAP Development Grant or another grant source
      • Cleanup - Contaminated soil, ground water or vapor mitigation
      • Public Acquisition - match only
      • Environmental Consulting Fees
      • Demolition – see question 9 in the application
    • Ineligible Costs
      • Project/Grant Administration
      • Costs of appraisals or other application costs
      • Development Costs
      • Asbestos Abatement in Buildings – unless included in building demolition required by RAP
      • Contingencies
      • Demolition necessary only for redevelopment purposes
      • Costs related to soils containing debris or geotechnically unstable soils

    Priorities

    • The potential increase in the property tax base of the local taxing jurisdictions relative to the fiscal needs of the jurisdictions, which will result from developments that will occur because of completion of the approved response actions. Maximum = 15 points
    • The social value to the community that will result from cleaning up and redeveloping the site. Social value includes the project's time frame, the number of new jobs, the importance of the proposed public facilities and the removal of blight at the site, the readiness of the project, the development potential and the financial health of the project. Maximum = 65 points
    • MPCA review of the reduction or elimination of potential threat to human health and the environment due to cleaning the site. Maximum = 25 points
    • The likelihood that the site will be cleaned without use of government money in the reasonably foreseeable future by considering but not limited to the current market value of the site versus the cleanup cost. Maximum = 25 points.
    • The amount of cleanup costs for the site. Maximum = 10 points
    • The amount and level of the commitment of municipal or other local resources to pay for the cleanup costs. Maximum = 5 points
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