Montana City Gets EPA Grant For Asbestos Removal

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it will award nearly $700,000 in grants to a Montana city and county to help in part with the asbestos abatement of a city courthouse that has been posing a mesothelioma risk to those in its vicinity for years.

The funding will come from the EPA’s Brownfields program, which targets contaminated and abandoned sites. In 2012 alone, $69.3 million has been awarded to 245 grantees in 39 states across the country to “assess and clean up abandoned industrial and commercial properties.”

The City of Missoula and Missoula County will use the $679,000 in grant funding for a number of cleanup efforts. However, $279,000 will be used solely to remove asbestos, lead paint, and other dangerous products from an old Missoula courthouse.

”Missoula has built a strong coalition that continues to make strides revitalizing properties and creating community assets,” saud Jim Martin, the EPA’s regional administrator. “These funds will set the stage for the modernization of the County Courthouse and help get several additional blighted sites back into productive use.”

Since it was created in 1995, Brownfields investments have leveraged more than $18.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding.

If you or a loved one has been exposed to asbestos in an old building and now suffers from mesothelioma, call Sokolove Law today to learn more about pursuing a mesothelioma claim. For legal help, call (800) 581-6358.