$300,000 from a Brownfield Assessment Grant will be used to clean up different areas in Ottawa. The city is one of five communities in the state to be awarded $6.75 million in Brownfield grants through the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The money has support from Pres. Biden’s $1.5 billion Infrastructure law. The projects could include cleaning buildings with asbestos or assess in cleaning up abandoned properties that once managed dangerous chemicals.
Mayor Dan Aussem says when the city applied, it was looking to clean up areas near one of the rivers, on Marquette Street, and where the Peltier Glass Factory was. The other areas getting grants are Rockford, Chicago’s Southwest Development, Corporation, Prairie Hills Resource Conservation and Development Inc., and the Will County Center for Economic Development.