Anne Giroux

HOUGHTON – Invest UP, the lead regional economic organization for the Upper Peninsula, has been selected to receive a $1 million Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant to support redevelopment in the Western U.P. The grant is to conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, prepare six cleanup plans and conduct community engagement activities. Anne Giroux, director of Development & Investment Services with Invest UP, was responsible for securing the grant award.

Giroux said as a former 16-year employee of Marquette County, that county’s brownfield authority has received three similar grants. Giroux said she saw how successfully the EPA funding was for that community and how it allowed that brownfield authority to grow. “That’s why I thought this would be a really awesome opportunity for the western U.P. to access that funding and see some of these were utilized,” She said.

During the EPA’s grant application process, target communities needed to be listed. At least two sites within those target communities must be addressed, said Giroux.

“We chose four target communities,” she said. “Those are Calumet Township, Ontonagon Township, the city of Wakefield and the city of Ironwood. The only limitation we have is that we need make sure we use assessment funds on at least two sites in those target areas in those target communities.”

The funds will not be available until after October 1. In the meantime, an Invest UP coalition will meet to create an application process and an intake form. Giroux said one of the conditions for site assessments is they must be either developer-driven or community-driven.

The grant supports Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments, allocated by the coalition committee based on developer or community interest.

“As people are looking at sites, they will fill those out and submit them to the coalition for review,” said Giroux. “Then, the coalition members will decide whether it wants to allocate funds to that project.”

Giroux said a Phase I assessment is a formal historical and physical evaluation of a property to identify potential or existing environmental contamination liabilities. It is a critical risk-management step required by commercial lenders and public funding programs (like Build U.P. or EPA brownfield grants) before real estate transactions close. A Phase II assessment focuses on collecting and analyzing physical samples in a laboratory.

For the grant process, Invest UP is in partnership with the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region, Houghton County Land Bank, and Gogebic County Land Bank.