EPA Awards $1.5M Grant to Northwest Tennessee Development District

WASHINGTON  (June 24) — The Northwest Tennessee Development District is one of only three Tennessee communities to be selected for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s 2026 Brownfield Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup Grant, receiving $1,500,000 from the national agency to accelerate the cleanup of polluted sites — including one site that was destroyed by the tornado that hit Dresden in 2021.

The EPA announced the award on Wednesday.

With the $1,500,000 Coalition Assessment Grant, the Northwest Tennessee Development District will primarily focus on the City of Dresden and the City of Martin — inventorying and prioritizing sites, developing 13 cleanup plans, facilitating a design charette and supporting community engagement activities.

Northwest Tennessee Development District chose the following priority sites:

Dresden — a 2.6-acre former gas station and auto garage in Dresden’s downtown commercial center that was destroyed by a 2021 tornado.

Dyer County — 1.81-acre commercial area with a former gas station and other commercial sites and a 10-acre former cotton processing warehouse.

Martin — a 25-acre container, timber and rail transload site and the former Unity Christian School.

“EPA is focused on delivering practical results that transform contaminated properties into clean, valuable spaces that spark economic growth and that directly benefit American families,” said Acting Assistant Administrator for Land and Emergency Management Thomas Croci. “Addressing environmental contamination and reusing brownfield properties revitalizes neighborhoods, drives local job creation and unleashes new economic opportunities.”     

“These brownfield grants represent opportunities to reimagine contaminated properties as assets that meet the needs of communities,” said Regional Administrator Kevin McOmber. “When you take a blighted property, clean it up and bring the community together to figure out how the property should be redeveloped, you can generate a lot of excitement.”   

Other selected applications for the 2026 Brownfield Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup Grants and RLF supplemental funding in Tennessee include:    

City of Jackson — $500,000 Community-wide Assessment Grant to conduct 12 Phase I and five Phase II environmental site assessments. The target areas for this grant are the Old Hickory/Jackson Plaza Redevelopment Area and the Downtown/Airways Corridor. Priority sites include the 21-acre Jackson Plaza, which contains an abandoned strip mall, the 72-acre Bruce Hardwood/Armstrong Flooring property, which historically manufactured wood flooring, and the 0.28-acre vacant Dudley’s Service Station.

Memphis, Shelby County Community Redevelopment Agency — $765,000 Cleanup Grant to clean up the Former Ibrahim Site City of Memphis. The 3.3-acre cleanup site includes a residential property, a grocery store, a dry cleaners and a gasoline station. The site has been vacant since the 1990s and is contaminated with petroleum, volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Grant recipients with viable cleanup projects ready for work will help communities continue their work to carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects on contaminated brownfield properties.