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Financial Assistance

Below are all of the financial incentives offered by the Indiana Brownfields Program (Program).  The Program offers financial assistance (state and federal funds) primarily to qualifying Indiana political subdivisions (as defined by Indiana Code 13-11-2-164(c)) to assess, remediate (and demolish, if tied to remediation) brownfield sites. For guidance on qualifying as a political subdivision for Indiana Brownfields Program financial assistance, click here.  Some incentives may be available to eligible private entities.

The Indiana Brownfields Program works in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and provides support letters for applicants for U.S. EPA financial assistance and coordinates petroleum site eligibility determinations.  To view U.S. EPA Brownfields Grant Awards in Indiana, click here.

For more information about the Indiana Brownfields Program's financial assistance, please contact Andrea Robertson Habeck, Technical Staff Coordinator, at (317) 234-0968 or email to: aroberts@ifa.in.gov.

For more information about U.S. EPA funding, please contact John Morris, Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator, at (317) 234-0235 or email to: jmorris@ifa.in.gov.

Community Wide Assessment Grant (CWAG)

The Indiana Finance Authority, through the Indiana Brownfields Program, was awarded a five-year, $2,000,000 Community-Wide State Assessment Grant by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) in 2022 to conduct assessment activities statewide, focusing on five (5) geographic target areas: the Cities of Evansville, Frankfort, Gary, Lafayette, and New Castle (Target Communities).

Through February 29, 2024, site-specific activities and accomplishments include:

  • 31 applications received (Evansville (6), Gary (4), Lafayette (8), New Castle (13))
  • 23 Phase I ESAs conducted with State funds or under contract (Evansville (4), Gary (3), Lafayette (6), New Castle (10))
  • 8 sites approved for Phase II ESAs by the Brownfields Program and U.S. EPA; 1 pending (Evansville (1), Gary (3), Lafayette (1), New Castle (4))

Target Community Contacts:

Evansville  - Susie Holmes (sholmes1@ifa.in.gov)

Frankfort - Jean Krueskamp (jkrueskamp@ifa.in.gov)

Gary - Lori Bebinger (lbebinger@ifa.in.gov)

Lafayette - Michele Bettis (mbettis1@ifa.in.gov)

New Castle - Haley Faulds (hfaulds1@ifa.in.gov)

128(a) Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Incentive – Federal Funds

Section 128(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) authorizes EPA to provide funding to States (including US Territories and DC) and Tribes to establish or enhance their environmental response programs. The Indiana Brownfields Program (Program) is offering assessment and remediation funding using 128(a) BIL funds to qualifying applicants and sites on a rolling basis through an application process until funds are fully obligated. Please utilize the Application for 128(a) Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Funding to apply.

Community Applicant Form

LOW-INTEREST LOAN (LIL) INCENTIVE - STATE FUNDS

The Indiana Brownfields Program (Program) offers Low-Interest Loan (LIL) funding on a rolling basis through an application process.  The purpose of the LIL incentive is to facilitate public or private redevelopment of brownfield sites throughout the state by making low-to-zero interest loans with flexible terms available to eligible Indiana political subdivisions, non-profits, and private, for-profit entities to finance environmental cleanups.  Note that a loan may be partially forgivable for political subdivision borrowers that meet negotiated project-specific remediation and economic development goals.  Contact the Program to discuss available LIL dollars and project/borrower needs.

REVOLVING LOAN FUND (RLF) INCENTIVE - FEDERAL FUNDS

The purpose of the Indiana Brownfields Program's Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Incentive (U.S. EPA funds) is to facilitate the public or private redevelopment of brownfield sites throughout the state primarily by making low-cost funding available to eligible public and private borrowers through low-to-zero interest loans with flexible terms and awarding subgrants (as an award of professional services) to eligible political subdivisions and non-profits to finance environmental cleanups. Contact the Program for current loan and/or subgrant funding available.

RLF Awards
APPLICATIONS, GUIDELINES AND FACT SHEETS
RLF PROJECT SUMMARIES

SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS

The Indiana Brownfields Program (Program) has collaborated with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to offer Indiana political subdivisions access to Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) funds for brownfields redevelopment activities. SEPs are used by IDEM as a tool to settle enforcement cases. When IDEM agrees to allow a respondent to settle a case with a brownfield SEP, an agreed-upon amount from a civil penalty owed to IDEM is paid directly by the respondent to the IFA for use on a brownfield project. Examples of eligible uses of brownfield SEP funds include the following: Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments, remediation and demolition activities, habitat restoration, and site acquisition. In order to administer this form of financial assistance, Program staff have developed guidelines for those communities that are the beneficiaries of a brownfield SEP to explain the eligible uses of the funding, administrative procedures for accepting and utilizing the funding, etc. Unlike other financial incentives received through the Indiana Brownfields Program, these are not funds for which an entity can apply; they result only from a negotiated settlement from IDEM's Office of Enforcement. The information below is, therefore, provided for those communities that are the beneficiary of a settlement involving a brownfield SEP or those respondents involved in negotiating a settlement with IDEM's Office of Enforcement that may be interested in proposing a brownfield SEP as part of a settlement. Questions regarding brownfield SEPs can be directed to Andrea Robertson, Technical Staff Coordinator, at (317) 234-0968.

The following incentives are awarded as services provided by consultants retained by the IFA.

PHASE I ENVIRONMENTAL SITE ASSESSMENT INITIATIVE

The Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Initiative provides Phase I environmental site assessments conducted under the ASTM E1527-21 standard to eligible political subdivisions and not-for-profit organizations to identify recognized environmental conditions on, and help quantify potential cleanup liability (e.g., pre-purchase due diligence to qualify as bona fide prospective purchaser) at, brownfield sites in their communities.

PETROLEUM ORPHAN SITES INITIATIVE

The Petroleum Orphan Sites Initiative (POSI) assists political subdivisions by investigating and undertaking corrective action at brownfield sites contaminated with petroleum from a release from an underground storage tank (UST) for which there is no viable responsible party to conduct tank removal and cleanup.  To facilitate redevelopment of such orphan properties, the Program will provide site assessment, UST removal, and remediation to close environmental conditions on a site under the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM)’s Risk-based Closure Guide (R2).  Hazardous substances or petroleum contamination from other on-site sources (e.g., hydraulic lifts, etc.) will also be addressed if funding is available.  Sites to be funded will primarily be identified to the Program by the Enforcement Section of IDEM’s Office of Land Quality and the Leaking UST program. However, if a political subdivision has concerns about an abandoned petroleum UST site in its community, it can contact the Program to request an evaluation of the site for potential funding. It will be a goal of the Program for a No Further Action letter to be issued by IDEM to the site owner at the end of remediation.

To view drone footage of an UST removal provided by SESCO Group, please click here.

IFA may provide site determinations to assist with the following incentives available for redeveloping brownfields.

PETROLEUM SITE ELIGIBILITY FOR U.S. EPA BROWNFIELD GRANTS

Applicants for awardees of specific and community-wide, (once specific sites are selected) are required by U.S. EPA to obtain a petroleum eligibility determination letter from the state for each site where federal grant funds will be spent. In the case of site-specific grants, per request, the petroleum determination is issued as part of the required acknowledgement letter by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) when the grant proposal is submitted, community-wide grant and grant recipients should request petroleum eligibility determination letters when specific sites are selected after being awarded a grant by U.S. EPA.

When requesting a petroleum eligibility determination after the grant is awarded, please provide written responses to the items on the form below. Requests, with completed forms, and/or questions should be emailed to Andrea Robertson, Indiana Brownfields Program Technical Staff Coordinator, at aroberts@ifa.in.gov and to John Morris, Indiana Brownfields Program Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator at jmorris@ifa.in.gov.

Petroleum Eligibility Determination Request Form (Word)

Petroleum Eligibility Determination Request Form (PDF)

TAX WAIVER - BROWNFIELD DETERMINATION

The Department of Local Government Finance may cancel any property taxes assessed against real property owned by a county, township, city, town or the state in a petition requesting that the department cancel the taxes is submitted by the auditor, assessor and treasurer of the county in which the real property is located (IC 6-1.1-36.7). This provision applies to any property, regardless of whether it is a brownfield site. However, there is a specific statutory provision dealing with the waiver or reduction of delinquent taxes on a brownfield property that applies to property owners as well. See IC 6-1.1-45.5. The brownfield tax reduction or waiver statute outlines a similar process for a person that owns or desires to own a brownfield to file a petition with the county auditor seeking a reduction or waiver of the delinquent tax liability.

As a part of the petition that is filed, the petitioner must seek a statement from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) that the property is a brownfield. Submittal of the tax reduction waiver form to the Indiana Brownfields Program will enable IDEM to make such a determination. In order to be eligible for reduction or waiver of taxes, the petitioner may not have contributed, or had an ownership interest in any entity that contributed, to the contamination of the property. For additional information about the state brownfield tax reduction waiver, please read the tax reduction waiver fact sheet.  (Word)

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE ARCHIVES