EPA Brownfields Grants 2026: FY2027 Deadline and Amounts

EPA Brownfields source review, Grantsights, November 6, 2026: Grantsights checked the five FY2027 notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs) attached to their federal listings against EPA's Types of Funding page (opens in a new tab), its application resources page (opens in a new tab), the statute at 42 U.S.C. 9604(k) (opens in a new tab) and EPA's FY2024 to FY2026 selection lists. Where official sources stop: EPA's pages don't say whether your site is eligible, whether your town will win against a pool four times smaller than last year's, or how long after selection the money arrives. Your Regional Brownfields Contact answers the first question. The round history below helps with the other two.

EPA Brownfields Grants Status on November 6, 2026

According to EPA's current funding opportunities page (opens in a new tab), checked November 6, 2026, one competition is open: the FY2027 Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grants, due January 21, 2027. The page lists no upcoming opportunities. Grantsights confirmed each notice's dates, ceiling and estimate through the free federal grants API the same day.

All five FY2027 notices share the same dates: a January 21, 2027 deadline at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, selection notices expected in June 2027 and awards expected in September 2027. EPA is running outreach webinars on November 9, 2026 for assessment applicants and November 12, 2026 for RLF and Cleanup applicants.

The reason for the drop is written on EPA's resources page: "In FY 2027, grants will be funded solely by annual appropriations." The large awards of recent rounds drew on the $1.5 billion the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) gave the program, and EPA's FY2026 selection list marks most of its 193 competitive selections as IIJA-funded. With that money spent, the FY2027 notices return to the statute's limits: the $500,000 Cleanup cap, the $200,000 per-site assessment cap and the 20% match.

How EPA Brownfields Grants Work: Five Funding Routes

Four of EPA's Brownfields grant types are competitive cooperative agreements under Assistance Listing 66.818, and a fifth route isn't a grant at all. A cooperative agreement means EPA stays involved: a project officer approves the workplan, which the notice calls "a legally binding document," and tracks progress through reporting.

• Assessment Grants pay for inventories, Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, cleanup planning and community outreach across a target area. The FY2027 notices cap site-specific work at $200,000 per site, which EPA can raise to $350,000. Performance periods are 4 years, or 5 for states and tribes.
• Cleanup Grants pay to clean up a site the applicant owns. One Cleanup application per applicant per cycle, and a site that already used Cleanup Grant money can't get more.
• Revolving Loan Fund Grants capitalize a local fund that makes cleanup loans and subgrants. The FY2027 notice says at least 50% of the total award, EPA money plus the cost share, must go to loans. Only entities without an open Brownfields RLF agreement can compete; existing funds ask for noncompetitive supplements instead.
• Multipurpose Grants combined assessment and cleanup in one area for up to $1,000,000. EPA's Types of Funding page (opens in a new tab) says plainly that it "will not issue a request for Multipurpose Grants in FY 2027."
• Targeted Brownfields Assessments (TBAs) are a service, not a grant. According to EPA's technical assistance page (opens in a new tab), an EPA contractor does the assessment at no cost to the community, typical costs run $50,000 to $100,000, and the program doesn't pay for cleanup or demolition.

States and tribes also get noncompetitive Section 128(a) money to run their own brownfields response programs. EPA's State and Tribal Response Program page (opens in a new tab) says that money is authorized at $50 million a year and shared among states, tribes and territories, and many states pair it with their own cleanup incentives. A town that can't wait for a federal cycle should call its state program first.

Who Can Apply, and the Nonprofit Rules

The statute names 12 kinds of eligible entity, and 501(c)(3) nonprofits are one of them. According to 42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(1) (opens in a new tab), they are general purpose local governments; land clearance authorities working for a local government; government entities created by a state legislature; regional councils; state-chartered redevelopment agencies; states; tribes other than in Alaska; Alaska Native Regional and Village Corporations and the Metlakatla Indian Community; 501(c)(3) organizations; LLCs and limited partnerships controlled entirely by 501(c)(3) groups; and qualified community development entities.

Grantsights built this table from the FY2027 Community-wide Assessment, Cleanup and RLF notices and EPA's eligibility page (opens in a new tab), which says the "other nonprofit organizations" category applies only to Cleanup, Job Training, technical assistance and research grants. Individuals and homeowners can't apply. A private developer can't get a grant, but the statute lets an RLF lend to "a site owner, a site developer, or another person," so a developer's route is a loan from a city or regional fund.

Three FY2027 threshold rules catch existing grantees. A current Assessment or Multipurpose recipient must have drawn down and disbursed at least 70% of each of those agreements by October 1, 2026 to apply for a new Community-wide Assessment or Coalition grant. Each Assessment Coalition needs a lead plus 2 to 4 members, target areas in at least 3 distinct jurisdictions, and at least one non-lead member that has never had a Brownfields grant or whose last one ended in 2015 or earlier. And entities that answer to the same elected executive count as one applicant, so a county and its redevelopment authority can't each file the same grant type.

What a FY2027 Application Needs

Every FY2027 application goes through Grants.gov (opens in a new tab) by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on January 21, 2027. The Cleanup notice says EPA reviews applications first for threshold eligibility, then sends those that pass to national panels. Registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) and a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) come first; the SAM.gov registration guide walks through it, and a lapsed registration is one of the few problems nobody at EPA can fix for you in January.

For a Cleanup Grant, the FY2027 notice adds these threshold tests:

1. Sole ownership by January 21, 2027, shown by a recorded deed with its recording date. Other arrangements, such as a 99-year irrevocable lease, need EPA's approval as equivalent.
2. A written Phase II environmental site assessment report, an ASTM E1903-19 report or an equivalent, completed before you apply. A draft counts.
3. Sufficient site characterization, now affirmed by an Environmental Professional instead of a state letter, or affirmed before award.
4. A draft Analysis of Brownfields Cleanup Alternatives (ABCA), posted for public comment.
5. Community notification: a public meeting no later than January 14, 2027, and a notice published by January 7, 2027 that says where the draft application is, how to comment, and when the meeting is. EPA won't accept a purchase receipt or affidavit as proof of the ad's date.
6. A plan for the 20% cost share, written into the budget even if you ask for a hardship waiver.
7. Proof you aren't liable for the contamination under CERCLA, the 1980 federal Superfund law that also authorizes the Brownfields grants.

For an Assessment Grant, there's no ownership test and no match. The applicant names a target area and priority sites, and EPA decides site eligibility after award. One Community-wide Assessment application per applicant, though EPA's FY2027 eligibility chart shows a Community-wide Assessment applicant can also apply for a Cleanup Grant.

For an RLF Grant, the notice expects an organization that can underwrite and service loans for years. EPA's RLF page (opens in a new tab) says recipients must manage program income "in perpetuity" unless they close the fund and return the income to EPA.

How Brownfields Applications Are Scored

The FY2027 Cleanup notice scores applications out of 175 points: 55 for the project area and revitalization plans, 35 for community need and engagement, 55 for task descriptions, cost estimates and measuring progress, and 30 for programmatic capability and past performance. The Community-wide Assessment notice uses 155 points split 40, 35, 45 and 35. The Coalition notice totals 160 and the RLF notice 185.

After scoring, EPA's Headquarters Selection Official may weigh other factors among the highest-ranked applications. The Cleanup notice lists a community of 15,000 people or fewer; tribes and territories; mine-scarred land; a secured, documented outside funding commitment; sites next to water or in a flood plain; renewable energy or efficiency in the reuse; a recently closed coal plant; persistent-poverty counties; the split between urban and non-urban areas and among EPA's 10 regions; and applicants that have never had a Brownfields grant.

Grantsights' view: those factors favor small towns and first-time applicants, and the FY2026 selections show it. Paper mill towns in northern Maine won repeatedly, and small nonprofits such as a Lutheran church in St. Louis made the list. A large city with a strong past-performance record still wins, but in a 93-award year the tiebreakers carry more weight than they did in a 193-award year.

Two scoring details are easy to miss. A sub-criterion left blank can score zero, so answer "not applicable" where something doesn't apply. And a past Brownfields grantee is scored on what it accomplished and whether it complied with its old agreement, worth 15 points in the Cleanup notice, so a stalled earlier grant shows up in the new score.

What EPA's Brownfields Pages Don't Tell You

EPA's pages say what each grant type pays for, but 5 practical facts only show up when you line up the notices, selection lists and award records.

1. The FY2027 pool is about 25% of FY2026's. The notices list $64 million for about 93 awards, against $255.7 million a year earlier, when EPA went on to select 193 grants. Expect a much lower selection rate, even if applications drop too.
2. Cleanup money now costs you 20%. FY2026's Cleanup notice said there was no cost share under the IIJA. In FY2027 a $500,000 grant needs $100,000, and hardship waivers will be rare.
3. Selection isn't money. EPA's FY2026 selection page says it will make awards "once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied." USASpending showed FY2025-cycle selections still being signed as late as May 28, 2026, a year after the May 15, 2025 announcement.
4. The calendar moves. The last four rounds opened anywhere from September 3 to November 20, and the RLF and Multipurpose competitions skip years.
5. Assessment money is now capped per site. The $200,000 per-site limit is back, so a plan that relied on one big Phase II at a single site needs a waiver request or a smaller scope.

Grantsights pulled each row's funding and dates from the round's federal listings through the free federal grants API on November 6, 2026, adding the estimates across that round's notices, and took the selection figures from EPA's selection pages and releases. The FY2025 competitive total is Grantsights' sum of EPA's FY2025 selection list (opens in a new tab); EPA's release put the whole package, with supplements, at $267 million.

The honest reading: the 80-day FY2027 window is long, but the Cleanup items take months. A Phase II report, a recorded deed, a draft ABCA and a public meeting a week before the deadline can't start in January. It's easy to underestimate the deed step, because a tax-foreclosure or land bank transfer can take longer than the whole window.

Who Won: EPA Brownfields Award Data

Grantsights analysis of USASpending awards under Assistance Listing 66.818 signed in FY2025 found 218 awards worth $236,877,597, with a median of $608,380. Half of the awards fell between $500,000 and about $1.5 million, and 46 states had at least one. Maine led by count with 19 awards worth $29,710,000, followed by Pennsylvania with 14, and California, Illinois and New York with 11 each. FY2024-signed awards came to 211 worth $265,062,572, with a median of $1,000,000.

That signed-date cohort mixes rounds. Most of it, 187 of 218, was signed from June to September 2025 after the FY2025 selections, but it also holds late FY2024-round awards and RLF supplements. For example, the City of Sherwood, Oregon received $5,000,000 on November 26, 2024, the tannery cleanup EPA had selected in May 2024. In the same cohort, the City of Kansas City, Missouri received $4,000,000, the Boston Redevelopment Authority $4,000,000, and Volunteers of America National Services $4,000,000 for the Sunset Park Apartments cleanup in Colorado.

The FY2026 round is missing from the data. According to USASpending records pulled November 6, 2026, only 34 awards were signed from October 1, 2025 to November 6, 2026, worth $31,133,080, all of them dated between October 8, 2025 and May 28, 2026, before EPA announced the FY2026 selections. Grantsights matched several to EPA's FY2025 selection list, including the Port of Tacoma's $2,000,000 cleanup, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's $2,000,000 assessment, and the City of Ideal, Georgia's $433,080 cleanup of the former Ideal School. So as of November 6, 2026, none of the 193 FY2026 selections appeared as signed awards in USASpending. That's a fact about the data, not proof of delay: EPA's notice expected awards in September 2026, and USASpending can lag.

EPA's FY2026 selection list (opens in a new tab) gives the type split USASpending can't. Grantsights parsed all 224 lines: 130 Assessment selections worth $123,765,180, 43 Cleanup selections worth $104,448,235 with a median of $2,500,000, 20 Multipurpose selections at $1,000,000 each, and 31 RLF supplements worth $22,500,000. The competitive total, $248,213,415 across 190 recipients, matches EPA's June 23, 2026 release (opens in a new tab). Those Cleanup amounts won't repeat: the FY2027 cap is $500,000.

Maine is the clearest pattern. One organization in Maine, Our Katahdin in Millinocket, received $5,000,000 signed in FY2024 and $4,000,000 signed in FY2025, then was selected for another $4,000,000 Cleanup Grant in FY2026 for Paper Machine 11 at the former Great Northern Paper site. Neighboring East Millinocket won $4,000,000 in FY2025 and again in FY2026. Across FY2024 to FY2026 signings, Maine had 30 awards worth $55,710,000, more than any other state.

Nonprofits That Won Brownfields Grants

Nonprofits win a real share. USASpending's nonprofit recipient filter returned 78 awards signed in FY2024 to FY2026 worth $94,927,423, with a median of $590,875; New York had 9, and California, Montana and Pennsylvania 5 each. The filter relies on self-registration, so it includes some economic development corporations and development agencies alongside charities.

The smaller nonprofit wins look like this:

• Land trusts: Wild Rivers Land Trust in Oregon, $1,940,000 signed December 2023; Buffalo Niagara River Land Trust, $500,000 signed May 2025; Mainspring Conservation Trust in Franklin, North Carolina, selected for a $367,605 Cleanup Grant in FY2026.
• Churches and ministries: New Baptist Church in West Virginia, $500,000 signed September 2025; Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice in New York, $500,000 signed July 2025; Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Louis, selected for a $500,000 Assessment Grant in FY2026.
• Housing groups: Gulf Coast Housing Partnership in Louisiana, $3,491,144 for the former Benjamin Banneker site; La Puente Home in Alamosa, Colorado, selected for $1,810,000 to clean up Railroad Plaza.
• Small local groups: Cornerstone Community Development Corporation in Huntington, West Virginia, selected for $139,620 to clean up a former VFW building, and the Henderson School Alumni Association Trust in Jackson, Georgia, selected for $499,950 to clean up its old school.

Grantsights' view: a nonprofit that owns a contaminated building and has a Phase II report is a credible Cleanup applicant. A nonprofit that doesn't own the site should either apply for an Assessment Grant or partner with the city that does, since Cleanup money only goes to the owner. EPA's nonprofit involvement page (opens in a new tab) says a nonprofit should assess a property before acquiring it to protect itself from environmental liability. Readers working on land conservation can compare the grants for land trusts guide, and groups planning a garden on a cleaned site can use grants for community gardens.

Other Money for Brownfield Reuse

EPA's FY2027 pool covers about 93 projects, so most brownfield work will be paid for some other way. A Brownfields grant rarely covers reuse anyway: the Cleanup notice gives 5 points for showing the resources needed for site reuse, and secured outside funding is one of EPA's tiebreakers. Federal options that often pair with it include the Economic Development Administration's programs for job-creating reuse and Community Development Block Grants for low- and moderate-income areas. Local governments can compare the rest in federal grants for local governments, and tribes can start with the tribal grants guide. For match planning, the cost sharing and matching guide explains in-kind contributions.

Private foundations are a smaller piece and fit some applicants far better than others. A city public works department or a county redevelopment authority will rarely get a foundation grant for remediation. A land trust, a watershed group, a community garden nonprofit or a church reusing its own lot often can, especially for the costs EPA won't cover: the public meeting, design work, planting or the cost share itself.

The Grantsights environment funder list shows private foundations that gave to environmental causes in your state, drawn from their 990-PF tax filings. It's foundation money, not federal grants, and it won't replace a $500,000 cleanup. The free preview shows your state's list before you decide, and there's a 30-day refund if it doesn't fit. To check a funder's history first, see how to read a 990-PF.

Each row is a statewide count of all environment giving in Grantsights analysis of 990-PF filings pulled October 29, 2026, not brownfield grants specifically. A $5,000 median gift can pay for a community meeting or part of a cost share. It won't pay for remediation. For open federal and state notices of every kind, the Grantsights grant search tracks new postings.

Common Mistakes With EPA Brownfields Applications

Threshold review comes before any scoring, so a missed requirement ends an application early. These 7 mistakes come straight from the FY2027 notices.

• Applying for Cleanup without owning the site. The deed must be recorded by January 21, 2027, and EPA won't accept a substitute site if yours is ruled ineligible.
• Skipping the Phase II. A Cleanup application needs a written Phase II report, or an equivalent, before submission. Get one through an Assessment Grant, a state program or a Targeted Brownfields Assessment first.
• A community ad that's missing an item. The notice lists four things the ad must say, and a missing one fails the application. Keep a dated copy.
• Budgeting FY2026 numbers. A $2 million cleanup plan written for FY2026 doesn't fit FY2027's $500,000 cap. Split the work or find other money.
• Counting on a match waiver. EPA says it will approve hardship waivers "on an extremely limited basis." Line up the 20% before you apply.
• Hiring the consultant the wrong way. The notice requires fair and open competition for contractors, and a consultant picked informally to write the application may have to be re-procured. Treat a free application from a firm that wants the cleanup contract as a red flag.
• Ignoring an old grant. An unspent earlier Assessment grant can block a new one under the 70% drawdown rule, and a poor compliance record costs points.

FAQ: Common Questions

Are EPA Brownfields grants open right now? Yes. FY2027 Assessment, RLF and Cleanup applications are due January 21, 2027, as checked November 6, 2026.

How much can we request in FY2027? $500,000 for Community-wide Assessment or Cleanup, $1,000,000 for a Coalition, state or tribal assessment, or RLF.

Is there a cost share? 20% for Cleanup and RLF; none for Assessment. FY2026 Cleanup had none under the IIJA.

Can a nonprofit apply for an EPA Brownfields grant? Yes. 501(c)(3) groups can apply for all three FY2027 types, and Cleanup needs sole site ownership.

How do we apply? SAM registration and a UEI, then a federal grants portal submission by January 21, 2027, after talking to your Regional Brownfields Contact.

What if we only need a site assessment and can't run a grant? Ask EPA's regional office about a Targeted Brownfields Assessment, a free contractor-run service, or call your state program.

Sources

These sources were checked November 6, 2026, unless a different date is shown.

• EPA: Types of Brownfields Grant Funding (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Current and Upcoming Brownfields Funding Opportunities (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Multipurpose, Assessment, RLF, and Cleanup Grant Application Resources (FY2027 and FY2026 notices, webinars) (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Summary of FY2027 ARC Grant Guideline Changes, November 4, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: FY2027 Community-wide Assessment Grants, EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-02 (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: FY2027 Assessment Coalition Grants, EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-03 (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: FY2027 Community-wide Assessment Grants for States and Tribes, EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-04 (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: FY2027 Revolving Loan Fund Grants, EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-05 (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: FY2027 Cleanup Grants, EPA-OLEM-OBLR-26-06 (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: FY2026 Cleanup Grant Guidelines (cost share and caps) (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Applications Selected for FY2026 Brownfields Grants (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: FY2026 selection list (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: June 23, 2026 release on FY2026 Brownfields grants (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Applications Selected for FY2025 Brownfields Grants (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: May 15, 2025 release on FY2025 Brownfields grants (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Applications Selected for FY2024 Brownfields Grants (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Brownfields eligibility (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grants (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Brownfields technical assistance and Targeted Brownfields Assessments (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Section 128(a) State and Tribal Response Program (opens in a new tab)
• EPA: Nonprofit involvement in brownfields reuse (opens in a new tab)
• govinfo.gov: 42 U.S.C. 9604, including subsection (k), Brownfields revitalization funding (opens in a new tab)
• USASpending.gov award search (opens in a new tab): prime awards under Assistance Listing 66.818 signed FY2024 to FY2026, pulled November 6, 2026
• Grants.gov API listings for the FY2024, FY2025 and FY2026 Brownfields notices, and the Grantsights environment statewide pull of 990-PF filings, October 29, 2026