The Industrial Sites Reuse (ISR) Program provides grants and low-interest loans for environmental assessments and remediation. The program is designed to foster the cleanup of environmental contamination at industrial sites, thereby bringing blighted land into productive reuse.
Industrial Sites Reuse Program funds may be used for environmental assessments and remediation only by eligible applicants who did not cause or contribute to environmental contamination at sites where industrial activity was conducted prior to July 18, 1995. Industrial activity is defined as commercial, manufacturing, public utility, mining, distribution of goods and services, research and development, warehousing, stockpiling of raw materials, storage or repair and maintenance of commercial machinery and equipment, and solid waste management.
Funding priority is given to projects:
- Where contamination is reasonably suspected or known to exist;
- At sites for which there is a bona fide prospective purchaser, and/or at sites that present the greatest potential for redevelopment;
- Which are local or regional development priorities;
- Which will result in the clean-up of contamination that is significantly affecting the environment; and
- Which have secured a high level of matching investment from other private and public sources.