EPA grants $388K to assess Martin Peña contamination
A view of part of the Martín Peña Channel in Hato Rey. (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is providing grants totaling $388,000 to Corporación del Proyecto ENLACE del Caño Martin Pena to assess abandoned and contaminated properties.
The funding was awarded through the EPA’s Brownfields Program, which helps communities assess, clean up, redevelop and reuse contaminated properties. Brownfields are properties with moderate contamination, which can threaten environmental quality and public health and can interfere with redevelopment.
“People living in the communities along the Martin Peña Canal are getting sick from exposure to raw sewage and untreated wastewater in their frequently flooded neighborhoods,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “These brownfields grants will enable ENLACE to expand environmental assessments of properties along the Martin Pena Canal, making way for future cleanups that will protect people’s health and put these properties to productive use for the community.”
ENLACE will use a $200,000 hazardous substances assessment grant and an $188,000 petroleum assessment grant to determine public health and environmental impacts and to inventory sites in the Martin Peña Channel Special Planning District. Grant funds will also be used to conduct cleanup planning activities and develop a community engagement plan.
