The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative was created to empower states, federally recognized Indian tribes, local governments, communities, and other stakeholders involved in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, and safely cleanup brownfields in order to facilitate their sustainable reuse.
As part of this Initiative, EPA awarded the City of Baton Rouge-Parish of East Baton Rouge funding assistance to establish a Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. The Brownfield pilot program was the foundation of a dynamic land revitalization program that the City of Baton Rouge-Parish of East Baton Rouge Planning Commission has managed for over 12 years resulting in numerous public-private partnerships that collectively place idle properties back into commerce.