Bear Paw Development receives $300K grant for Brownfields

Press release

The Environmental Protection Agency announced that Bear Paw Development Corp. is the recipient of $300,000 in assessment grant funds to enhance the organization’s Brownfields Program, which is designed to assess contamination or perceived contamination, remediate the problem and make sure that abandoned or underutilized properties are once again productive parts of the community. 

“Since 2008, Bear Paw Development has managed a very robust Brownfields program for northern Montana that has assessed dozens of properties to determine the extent of contamination and has worked with private businesses, local governments and the nonprofit sector to clean them up,” said Paul Tuss, executive director for Bear Paw Development. “This recent investment by the EPA in our Brownfields Program is evidence that we’re making significant progress in utilizing this program as an important economic development tool that will expand the tax base, improve neighborhoods, create jobs and make communities more vibrant and sustainable.”

Over the past nine years, Bear Paw Development’s Brownfields Program has received $1.2 million in federal grant funds from the EPA to help assess the extent of contamination that may exist on properties that are abandoned, underutilized or hampered with their development due to environmental concerns.

Bear Paw also manages a $1 million revolving loan fund specifically designed to help businesses, local governments and nonprofits mitigate contamination that’s been discovered and is a hindrance to future development. 

“This recent investment by the EPA confirms that we’re on the right track in properly using these federal funds as they were intended — to identify and clean up properties in northern Montana that can be far more productive than they currently are, and a bigger, more active part of our regional economy,” said Samantha Chagnon, Brownfields coordinator for Bear Paw Development. 

For more information about Bear Paw’s Brownfields Program, people can contact Samantha Chagnon at 265-9226 or by e-mail at [email protected].   

Bear Paw Development Corporation is a federally-recognized Economic Development District and state-recognized Certified Regional Development Corporation and promotes economic growth and diversification in Liberty, Hill, Blaine, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and on the Rocky Boy’s and Fort Belknap Indian Reservations.