Pictured above: Former Bell Buoy Seafood Plant is now Bay Creek Park in the Town of Edisto Beach. 

By Bryony Wardell

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the award of $300,000 in supplemental funding to the South Carolina Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) to help transform communities in South Carolina by cleaning up contaminated Brownfields properties.  A Brownfield is a property on which expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence, or perceived presence, of contamination.

“These funds – granted to communities who have already achieved success in their work to clean up and redevelop Brownfields – will help boost local economies, create local jobs and protect people from harmful pollution by expediting Brownfield projects,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “The RLF supplemental recipients are some of the nation’s top performers. The RLF funding announced today will help sustain that incredible progress.”

The purpose of the RLF is to provide financial incentives in the form of below-market interest rates and limited debt forgiveness to help local governments, non-profits, and businesses undertake the cleanup of contamination from Brownfields across the state.

Before: Kitson Mill Brownfield site in 2011, one of the beneficiaries of South Carolina’s RLF program.

After: Kitson Mill in February 2013 after the property was recovered and ready for redevelopment.

Through these grants, EPA seeks to strengthen the marketplace and encourage stakeholders to leverage the resources needed to clean up and redevelop Brownfields.  When loans are repaid, the loan amount is returned into the fund and re-lent to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital within a community.

“South Carolina Brownfield RLF is one of the most successful RLF financing programs in the Southeast, providing remediation for 11 Brownfield properties across the state so far,” said DHEC Bureau of Land and Waste Management Director Daphne Neel. “A reinvestment in South Carolina communities, the EPA’s support will go a long way towards helping us continue to reclaim and redevelop our state’s existing Brownfields.”

South Carolina’s Brownfield RLF program has loaned more than $7.5 million to date to enable the cleanup of sites such as large textile mills, landfills, scrap metal yards and contaminated industrial and commercial property.  On these sites, new uses are emerging such as medical clinics, recreational parks, and shovel-ready, large-scale commercial and industrial sites in highly desirable growth areas.

To learn more about the Brownfields RLF, please visit our website or contact Robert Hodges at (803) 898-0919 or hodgesrf@dhec.sc.gov.

Before: Former Bush’s Recycling site before reclamation.

After: The former Bush’s Recycling Brownfield is now the new site for HopeHealth in Florence, SC.

Click here to see a presentation on SC Brownfields recovery success stories.