Press Releases

LOWELL, MA – Yesterday, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) joined State Representative Jim Arciero, Westford Town Manager Kristen Las, DPW Director Steve Cronin, and town officials to highlight $500,000 in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding that the Town of Westford is receiving to clean up the Westford Anodizing Facility brownfield site. 

“When passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we not only invested in our roads and bridges, but also expanded critical environmental programs to keep our communities safe. I’m proud to have secured this federal funding from the EPA to help clean up the Westford Anodizing Facility brownfield site so it can finally be repurposed in a way that benefits the town for generations to come,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “I’m grateful to State Representative Jim Arciero and Westford officials for their partnership in implementing this funding. Securing this competitive EPA grant is a testament to the hard work and talent of our town leaders.”

The federal funds will be used to perform additional assessment and continued remediation of contaminated soil at the former site. Specifically, the funding will allow the Town of Westford to complete a series of site assessments, demolish and dispose of an incinerator, excavate an estimated 1,400 tons of contaminated soils, backfill the excavation, and install new wells with groundwater remediation and testing.

Westford is one of the 262 EPA-selected communities to receive grants totaling more than $215,000,000 in competitive EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (MARC) Grant programs. Massachusetts received 16 awards in total, with 6 awards for cleanup projects, like this project in Westford. Due to the historic boost in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this is the largest-ever funding awarded in the history of the MARC Grant programs.

“Applauding Congresswoman Lori Trahan for securing $500,000 for the Town of Westford towards the clean-up and continued assessment of Westford Anodizing Facility brownfield site.  The federal funding Congresswoman Trahan secured is a huge step forward, as partners on the state and local levels have chipped away at cleaning and repurposing the building over the previous decade,” said State Representative Jim Arciero. “Thank you to Congresswoman Trahan for helping secure this important funding that will help clean and reutilize the old historic landmark.”

“The Town has already leveraged a portion of $378,250 in local CPA funds to stabilize the building and start the hazardous material clean up, $64,500 in Mass Development funding to complete a limited Phase I Environmental Site Assessment and $240,000 in Mass Development funding to perform hazardous material clean up on the exterior of the building in the rear portion of the lot,” said Town Manager Kristen Las. “The Federal grant will allow the Town of Westford to further leverage funds to unlock this property for future use. The Town is grateful for this funding source and sees it as a catalyst not only for the redevelopment of this property but the Graniteville neighborhood overall.”

Trahan secured this funding for the Town of Westford through the passage of the  Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in November of 2021. The legislation is delivering more than $9.5 billion in federal funding to Massachusetts, including $1.4 billion for environmental work.

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