News Releases from Region 03

EPA joins ribbon cutting for $9 million facility built on former Brownfields of mine-scarred land

WEIRTON, W. Va.  (July 29, 2019) – Today, in Weirton, West Virginia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency joined the Governor of West Virginia, U.S. Senators and Representatives from West Virginia, the CEO of Pietro Fiorentini Group, Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle and its coalition partners, and other state and local officials for the ribbon cutting for Pietro Fiorentini -- a new, state of the art $9 million manufacturing facility built on a former Brownfields site at the Three Springs Business Park.

"It’s exciting to see Pietro Fiorentini’s new manufacturing facility reusing a site where EPA Brownfields funding helped support initial assessment and cleanup.” Cosmo Servidio, EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator.  “This redevelopment exemplifies the amazing quality and commitment to collaboration between all of the stakeholders led by Patrick Ford of the Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle and its coalition partners.”

Weirton is now home to the first American facility of the Italian-based company.  The facility produces pressure regulators, valves, and metering systems for the natural gas industry.  The company employs 41 people and expects to triple the number of jobs in the future.  In addition to adding jobs, this new business will bring many other economic benefits to the area. 

The 26-acre facility is reusing land that was formerly scarred by mining activities.  

In addition to celebrating the newest redevelopment success, EPA announced $600,000 of additional Brownfields grant funding to Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle (BDC) and its coalition partners.  This grant is one of 151 grants awarded nationwide this year totaling $64,623,553 million in EPA Brownfields funding.

BDC and its partners -- the Brooke-Hancock Regional Planning & Development Council and the Jefferson County Port Authority -- will conduct environmental site assessments, complete site cleanup plans, identify new sites to inventory and conduct community outreach activities in three counties.

With this new grant, BDC has received a total of $2.158 million in EPA Brownfields Assessment and Cleanup grant funding since their initial award in 2012.  In addition to the redevelopment of the Three Springs Business Park, BDC has used EPA grants and leveraged other support, to make other sites in Weirton and in the surrounding three county-area in West Virginia, ready for reuse:

• Beech Bottom Industrial Park, former Wheeling Corrugating Plant, in Beech Bottom

• Brooke Glass site in Wellsburg

• Eagle Manufacturing in Wellsburg

• Former Follansbee Steel in Follansbee

• Wheeling-Nisshin in Follansbee

• Frontier Group and Bidell Gas Compression at the former Weirton Steel/ArcelorMittal in Weirton

• The Lodge at the Williams in Weirton

• Jimmy Carey Stadium in Weirton

• Newell Porcelain in Newell

• Chrysler Dealership in Newell

• Rock Springs Business Park in the Former TS&T Pottery Site in Chester

  Background

  EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A Brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

  The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002, as amended by the Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development Act of 2018, was passed to help states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize Brownfield sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through five competitive grant programs: Multipurpose Grants, Assessment Grants, Revolving Loan Fund Grants, Cleanup Grants, and Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.

List of all the 2019 Brownfields applicants selected for Brownfields funding: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/brownfields/applicants-selected-fy19-brownfields-multipurpose-assessment-and-cleanup-grants

For more on the Brownfields Grants: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/brownfields/types-brownfields-grant-funding.

For more on EPA’s Brownfields Program: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/brownfields.