Illinois EPA awards Tallula federal "Special Project Funds" grant

SPRINGFIELD — On behalf of Governor Rod Blagojevich, Illinois EPA Director Doug. Scott has announced the award of U.S. EPA Brownfields Special Project Funds Grant to the Village of Tallula, which will allow them to remove underground storage tanks, or USTs, at a former gas station site.

 

The grant is a portion of $100,000 in Special Project Funds that was awarded to the Illinois EPA by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assess and clean up contamination from USTs. It is part of U.S. EPA's overall USTfields program, which addresses abandoned or underused sites that have underground storage tanks. The UST fields Grant Program complements the nationwide Brownfields initiative; UST fields are the most common type of brownfields site.

 

"This special funding will allow the community to evaluate the environmental impact of the past uses of property and enable them to make plans to rehabilitate the site for redevelopment," said Director Scott. 

 

Tallula had previously received a $36,658 Illinois Municipal Brownfield Redevelopment Grant to conduct Phase I and Phase II work on the former Davis Service Center site in the Village. With this grant, the Village will now receive an additional $33,095 from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Brownfield Special Project Funds that will be used to remove USTs at this former gas station site, located on East Main Street. The Village is seeking a No Further Remediation Letter from the Illinois EPA on the site so that redevelopment can proceed.