Jan 07, 2021
In 2005, the West Virginia Legislature created the West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Centers to empower communities to plan and implement Brownfields redevelopment projects.
The two centers, one at Marshall University and the other at West Virginia University, promote economic development and environmental and public health protection through innovative redevelopment of brownfield sites.
The centers also promote and coordinate the development of brownfield property by providing training and technical assistance, facilitating site preparation efforts, engaging community involvement, as well as by helping communities with grant writing and leveraging project funding.
In an effort to provide comprehensive assistance to communities throughout West Virginia, the two centers coordinate by producing state-wide conferences, collaborating on regional projects and sharing current brownfields information.
The Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center is housed in the West Virginia Water Research Institute (WVWRI) at the National Research Center for Coal and Energy (NRCCE) at WVU. It serves the state’s northern 33 counties with collaborations extending statewide.
The West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at Marshall is housed within the Center for Environmental, Geotechnical, and Applied Sciences (CEGAS). It serves the southern 22 counties in West Virginia with collaborations also extending statewide.
The Pittsburgh-based Claude Worthington Benelux Foundation has extended its support to two of the West Virginia Brownfields Centers’ programs — the Brownfields, Abandoned and Dilapidated Buildings (BAD) Program and the WV Foundations for Overcoming Challenges Focus and Utilizing Strength (FOCUS WV) Program.
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