The City of Wheeling and Mayor Glenn Elliott were recognized last week at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Brownfields Conference in Oklahoma City for past and ongoing efforts to utilize federal grants to clean up brownfield sites for economic development and quality-of-life enhancements. 

During the conference, Elliott participated in a panel discussion with four other mayors and the Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management.

“The Brownfields Conference was an excellent opportunity to share Wheeling’s story with a national audience of stakeholders in brownfields redevelopment and cleanup,” Elliott said. “It also gave me the chance to meet with many of our partners in the EPA and the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection to discuss strategies for taking advantage of the unprecedented amount of brownfields funding that will be available going forward.”

With the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law earlier this year, there will be an unprecedented $1.5 billion investment in EPA’s Brownfields program over the next two years.  City officials are hopeful to access this additional funding going forward as part of a continuing effort to return environmentally contaminated properties back to productive use.