The city of Gloucester will receive $400,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency to help clean contaminated brownfields sites. The funding is part of more than $16 million for brownfields allotted nationally and $3 million allotted in New England by the EPA.

Gloucester received one of the 27 grants announced nationally, including eight in New England. The funding is targeted to help with cleanup activities and redevelopment projects, and to help create jobs for people living near brownfields sites. These grants will help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use, the agency said.

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.

The seven other grants given in New England included two in Connecticut (totaling $600,000), three in Massachusetts (totaling $1.2 million), two in Vermont (totaling $800,000) and one in Maine ($400,000).

"This funding to the city of Gloucester will be a boon to the local economy and will continue to assist in job creation in the area. With this additional money the city will be able to fund more local cleanup projects, "said Curt Spalding, regional administrator for EPA New England.

"This $400,000 in federal funds will support efforts to clean up abandoned waste sites in Gloucester and is expected to help local businesses put residents back to work," said U.S. Rep. John Tierney. "Gloucester was one of only 27 communities in the entire country to be selected for this federal funding, and I am pleased to join the EPA and Mayor Kirk in moving these projects forward and supporting our local economy."

"Old cities like Gloucester are faced with many redevelopment challenges. EPA funds which help with site clean up removes a big obstacle and make it easier to promote the job growth and expansion of the tax base that come with redevelopment," said Mayor Carolyn Kirk.