EPA Region 7 Presents $2.5M to City of Topeka and Kansas Department of Health and Environment in Brownfields Grants
LENEXA, KAN. (SEPT. 25, 2025) – Today, at a brownfields site in Topeka, Kansas, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 Administrator Jim Macy presented a $2 million award to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and a $500,000 award to the city of Topeka in Brownfields Assessment Grants. Macy was joined by Topeka Planning Division Director Dan Warner and KDHE Secretary Janet Stanek.
“We are honored to present funds for Brownfields Assessment Grants to Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the city of Topeka, highlighting their commitment to transforming communities across the Heartland,” Macy said. “This investment underscores the resilience and innovative spirit of the region, where brownfield sites are being revitalized into thriving centers of economic and social activity.”
“I am excited to utilize grant dollars to revitalize areas in Topeka,” said Topeka Mayor Mike Padilla. “It is great to be able to work with different organizations to reinvest in Topeka to create clean new areas for growth.”
“These Community-Wide Grant funds from EPA put Kansas communities in the position to leverage additional funds that will aid in redevelopment, revitalization, and cleanup plans across the state,” Stanek said. “We will be able to support the redevelopment of several Kansas brownfield sites through technical assistance, environmental assessments, and cleanup planning assistance. This not only benefits those individual communities, but it benefits the entire state.”
EPA has selected the City of Topeka for a Brownfields Assessment Grant. In Topeka, Community-Wide Grant funds will be used to conduct eight Phase I and three Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to inventory brownfields sites and support reuse planning and community engagement activities. The target area for this grant is the City of Topeka, where priority sites include the 36-acre former White Lakes Mall and two former schools. EPA selected KDHE for a Brownfields Community-Wide Assessment Grant for States and Tribes. Grant funds will be used to conduct 116 Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, and also will support the development of at least three cleanup plans and at least one community meeting annually with each community to provide general updates on the grant. The Kansas target areas for this grant include the Oak Grove neighborhood in Kansas City and the cities of Eureka and El Dorado. Priority sites include Land Bank properties in Oak Grove; a former horse racetrack, former nursing home, Memorial Hall, former Masonic Lodge, and sites adjacent to the existing fire department to accommodate its expansion in Eureka; and the Grizzly Development in El Dorado.
Background
These grants are part of FY 2025 Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund (RLF), Cleanup Grants, and RLF Supplemental Funding announced in May 2025. View the list of selected applicants.
EPA’s Brownfields program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.9 billion in Brownfields Grants to assess and cleanup contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. To date, brownfields investments have leveraged over $42 billion in cleanup and redevelopment. Over the years, the relatively small investment of federal funding was able to leverage over 220,500 jobs from both public and private sources.
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