Types of Funding

EPA’s Brownfields Program provides competitive funding for brownfield projects:

Assessment
Cleanup
Multipurpose
Revolving Loan Funds
Job Training
Technical Assistance

The program also provides non-competitive funding:

To State and Tribal Response Programs.
For recapitalization of existing revolving loan funds.

Assessment Grants

Assessment Grants provide funding for brownfield inventories, planning, environmental assessments and community outreach.

Community-wide Assessment Grants

Appropriate for communities that are beginning to address their brownfield challenges, as well as for communities that have ongoing efforts to bring sites into productive reuse.
Applicants may request up to $500,000 to assess sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants or petroleum.
Performance period is up to 4 years.
Current EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant recipients and Multipurpose Grant recipients must demonstrate that payment has been received from EPA (also known as ‘drawn down’), and drawn down funds have been disbursed, for at least 70.00% of each Assessment and Multipurpose cooperative agreement they have with EPA by October 1, 2025, in order to apply for an FY26 Community-wide Assessment Grant.

Assessment Coalition Grants

Designed for one “lead” entity to partner with two to four entities that do not have the capacity to apply for and manage their own EPA cooperative agreement and otherwise would not have access to Brownfields Grant resources.
As of FY26, previous limitations on entities eligible to lead an Assessment Coalition Grant have been removed. The list of entities eligible to apply for an FY26 Assessment Coalition Grant is the same for both lead and non-lead coalition members.
The coalition must have at least one non-lead member that has never been awarded a Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, or Cleanup (MARC) Grant.
The members of the coalition may not be an agency or instrumentality of themselves (e.g., a county and the redevelopment authority of the same county), except for coalitions in which the state is the lead and one of the members is a regional council or regional commission that is created by a state legislature through a charter or another official action.
Additions to the FY26 threshold criteria will require:
- Target areas must be identified for each coalition member, may not overlap, and must be in at least three distinct municipalities or jurisdictions (e.g., town, city, or Tribe).
- The lead member must have legal authority to expend grant funds on behalf of the non-lead members to conduct the proposed activities. If the lead member's geographic boundary does not encompass the non-lead members' geographic boundaries, the lead member must identify the relevant law(s), ordinance(s), or other documentation to demonstrate their legal authority to expend grant funds outside of their geographic boundary.
Applicants may request up to $1,500,000 to assess sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants or petroleum.
Performance period is up to 4 years.
Current EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant and Multipurpose Grant recipients (i.e., both lead and non-lead coalition members) must demonstrate that payment has been received from EPA (also known as ‘drawn down’), and drawn down funds have been disbursed, for at least 70.00% of each Assessment and Multipurpose cooperative agreement they have with EPA by October 1, 2025, in order to apply for an FY26 Assessment Coalition Grant.

Community-wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes

Only available to states, Federally recognized Tribal Nations and eligible native corporations in Alaska to address brownfield sites in their jurisdiction.
Applicants may request up to $2,000,000 to assess sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants or petroleum.
Awards are funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Therefore, activities carried out at each approved, eligible site may exceed $200,000 per grant.
Performance period is up to 5 years.
Current EPA Brownfields CWAGST Grant recipients must demonstrate that payment has been received from EPA (also known as ‘drawn down’), and drawn down funds have been disbursed, for at least 60.00% of the CWAGST cooperative agreement they have with EPA by October 1, 2025, in order to apply for an FY26 CWAGST Grant.

Cleanup Grants

Cleanup Grants provide funding to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites owned by the applicant.

Performance period is up to 4 years.
Sites may not receive this funding more than once.
Applicants may request up to $500,000 or up to $4 million to address one or more brownfield sites contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants or petroleum.
Applicants may submit only one Cleanup Grant application each competition cycle.

Note: Brownfield sites where Brownfields Cleanup Grant funds were previously expended may not receive additional Cleanup Grant funding.

Site Characterization

In past competition cycles, applicants were required to obtain a letter from the State/Tribal Environmental Authority acknowledging the applicant’s intent to apply for Brownfields Grant funding. As of FY23, there is an additional requirement for Cleanup Grant applicants to demonstrate that the proposed site(s) has been sufficiently characterized for the cleanup to begin. EPA will categorize applicants in three buckets:

If the applicant is a State or Tribal Environmental Authority, EPA will not require a letter, however, the applicant will be required to include a statement in response to the threshold criterion affirming that there is a sufficient level of site characterization from the environmental site assessment performed to date (or will be by June 15, 2026) for the remediation work to begin on the site(s).
An applicant other than a State or Tribal Environmental Authority that is proposing a site(s) that is eligible to be enrolled in a voluntary response program, will be required to attach a current letter from the appropriate State or Tribal Environmental Authority (or equivalent state or Tribal regulatory oversight authority) that affirms: (i) the applicant has requested, or will request, State or Tribal oversight for the site(s); (ii) the site(s) is eligible to be overseen by a State or Tribal program or office; and (ii) based upon the environmental site assessment(s) performed to date and information provided by the applicant, the site(s) has had a sufficient level of site characterization for the remediation work to begin; or additional assessment is needed to sufficiently characterize the site(s) for the remediation work to begin.
1. If additional assessment is needed to sufficiently characterize the site(s) for the remediation work to begin, the applicant should include a statement to that effect and affirm that there will be a sufficient level of site characterization from the environmental site assessment performed by June 15, 2026. Selected applicants will be required to submit updated information to the appropriate State or Tribal Environmental Authority and request an updated letter. Failure to meet this requirement by June 15, 2026, may result in EPA not making the award.
For an applicant other than a State or Tribal Environmental Authority that is proposing a site(s) that is not eligible to be enrolled in a voluntary response program or State or Tribal equivalent oversight program (e.g., sites contaminated with hazardous building material) will be required to: (i) Attach a current letter from the appropriate State or Tribal Environmental Authority (or equivalent state or Tribal regulatory oversight authority) that explains why the site(s) is not eligible to be enrolled. (ii) State in response to the threshold criterion whether an Environmental Professional (as defined in 40 CFR 312.10) has certified that there is a sufficient level of site characterization from the environmental site assessment performed to date (or will be by June 15, 2026) for the remediation work to begin on the site(s).

EPA encourages applicants to request the letter from the appropriate State or Tribal Environmental Authority as early as possible. EPA only needs one letter per applicant, and the letter, or proof that the letter was requested by the application deadline (i.e., a dated copy of the email request), must be included with the application submitted by the deadline. If an applicant attaches proof that the letter was requested by the deadline, the letter should be provided to EPA by January 15, 2026.

Statutory Cleanup Cost Share Requirement

Grant recipients may be required to provide a 20 percent match in the form of a contribution of money, labor, materials or services for eligible activities. (Note: EPA has waived cost share requirements for MAC Grants in FY26 per the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.)

Multipurpose Grants

Multipurpose Grants are appropriate for communities that have identified through community engagement efforts a discrete area (such as a neighborhood, a number of neighboring towns, a district, a corridor, a shared planning area or a census tract) with one or more brownfield sites.

Target area may not include communities in distinctly different geographic areas.
Applicants must own a site(s) that meets the CERCLA § 101(39) definition of a brownfield site within their target area where cleanup activities may be conducted.
Applicants can apply for up to $1,000,000 and should demonstrate how grant funds will result in at least one of the following:
- Phase II environmental site assessment
- Site cleanup
- Overall revitalization that includes a feasible reuse plan for one site
Eligibility determinations for site-specific assessment and cleanup activities will be made after award and throughout the project period.
Grant recipients may be required to provide a $40,000 match in the form of a contribution of money, labor, materials or services for eligible costs. (Note: EPA has waived cost share requirements for MAC Grants in FY26 per the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.)
Performance period is up to 5 years.
Current EPA Brownfields Multipurpose Grant and Assessment Grant recipients must demonstrate that payment has been received from EPA (also known as ‘drawn down’), and drawn down funds have been disbursed, for at least 70.00% of each Multipurpose and Assessment cooperative agreement they have with EPA by October 1, 2025, in order to apply for an FY26 Multipurpose Grant.

Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants

Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants provide funding for a grant recipient to capitalize a revolving loan fund and to provide loans and subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. Through these grants, EPA strengthens the marketplace and encourages stakeholders to leverage resources to clean up and redevelop brownfields. When loans are repaid, the loan amount is returned to the fund and re-lent to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital within a community.

EPA will not issue a request for RLF Grants in FY26.

Job Training Grants

Job Training Grants provide funding to nonprofits, local governments, and other eligible organizations to provide environmental training for residents impacted by brownfield sites in their communities.

Allows nonprofits, local governments and other organizations to recruit, train and place unemployed and underemployed residents of areas affected by the presence of brownfield sites.
Graduates develop the skills needed to secure full-time, sustainable employment in various aspects of hazardous and solid waste management and within the larger environmental field, including sustainable cleanup and reuse and chemical safety.

Technical Assistance

EPA provides funding to organizations to provide training and technical assistance to communities to help address their brownfield challenges.

State and Tribal Response Program Funding

EPA’s Section 128(a) State and Tribal Response Program empowers states, Tribal Nations, communities and other stakeholders to build strong partnerships and local capacity to prevent, assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse brownfields.