State readies fund for brownfield help

The state is developing regulations for a $2 million loan program that will help Nevada cities and counties clean up brownfields sites.

In July, the state environmental commission will vote on regulations covering the Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund.

The regulations are currently available for public comment and can be viewed at the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection's web site.

Brownfields are polluted or contaminated properties that can be cleaned up for reuse or redevelopment.

They can be found in rural areas as well as urban sites.

In Reno, the Reno Downtown Events Center now under construction is on a reclaimed brownfield.

Rural projects include Belaustegui Park in Battle Mountain.

Another rural Nevada site, the Barrick Bullfrog gold mine in Beatty, last week was chosen as one of six pilot projects for the Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields Mine-Scarred Land Initiative.

The state's revolving loan program is funded by a grant from the federal government, which allows up to 40 percent of the fund to be distributed as sub-grants instead of loans.

It's up to NDEP, which administers the fund, to grant money to the most important projects, said Scott Smale, an environmental scientist with the state agency, at the Nevada Brownfields Conference in Sparks last week.

The goal, said conference speakers, is to help revitalize Nevada's rural areas and better utilize available land in the state's growing cities.

"It saves the government money, and the taxpayers, and it saves businesses money because they all share the costs," said state Senator Dina Titus (D-Clark) speaking at the conference.

"And it encourages redevelopment of existing land instead of more development of new land."