Gov. Tom Wolf announced three new projects funded by the Industrial Sites Reuse Program that will clean up former industrial sites in Bucks, Berks and Montgomery counties to prepare them for use as residential properties, open space for park systems, and manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, call centers, and for small business space in general.
“Investing in bringing new life to old and unutilized properties creates clean and safe space for surrounding communities,” said Wolf. “These projects will result in new opportunities like housing options, space for future outdoor recreational activities, and new jobs for these three counties.”
The ISRP provides loans and grants for environmental assessments and remediation carried out by eligible applicants who did not cause or contribute to the contamination. The program is designed to foster the cleanup or environmental contamination at industrial sites, thereby bringing land into productive use.
The Redevelopment Authority of the County of Bucks was granted $87,600 for an assessment at the former Bensalem Drum Dump Site. The site includes six blighted areas. A Phase I Assessment was completed in 2017 and revealed concentrations of several heavy metals, including lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE). A Phase II Assessment was recently completed through a Greenways, Trails, and Recreation Program grant.
The RDA will continue assessing the site which is intended to be preserved as open space and incorporated into Bensalem Township’s municipal park system. ISRP funds will be used for soil investigation, groundwater sampling and analysis activities, groundwater monitoring wells, groundwater monitoring well survey activities, sub-slab gas sampling and analysis activities, aquifer testing, fate and transport modeling, Act 2 remedial investigation reports, and Act 2 procedural requirements.
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