Across the United States, there are more than 500,000 brownfields covering a vast footprint estimated at more than five million acres, according to the EPA. These properties, sidelined by contamination or perceived environmental risk, are now central to a national push for redevelopment. They are found in nearly every community, ranging from vacant industrial buildings and gas stations to dry cleaners, and mine-scarred land. Under the expanded definitions introduced by the 2002 Brownfields Amendments to CERCLA, residential parcels and petroleum-contaminated properties are now also considered eligible for federal support and brownfield grant funding.
Brownfield redevelopment is the process of converting these underutilized or contaminated sites into productive, community-serving assets. Redevelopment efforts are increasingly tied to larger objectives such as housing delivery, energy resilience, and equitable reinvestment. Backed by steady federal investment and rising demand for housing, clean energy, and infrastructure, these sites remain a critical part of long-term reuse strategies.
LightBox attended the 2025 National Brownfields Training Conference in Chicago last week, where public- and private-sector leaders came together to share strategies on remediation, funding, environmental justice, and long-term land use. The event reinforced both the complexity of today’s redevelopment environment and the growing emphasis on risk management and the urgency of returning sites to productive use.
For professionals on the front lines of brownfield redevelopment efforts, technical expertise alone is no longer enough. Success now requires defensible reporting, seamless collaboration, and access to real-time environmental data. LightBox Live was built to meet those demands as a modern platform for environmental due diligence and risk management that supports every stage of a brownfield project.
Federal Funding Trends Signal a Turning Point for Brownfields
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded $267 million in total brownfield grants in FY 2025, the highest allocation in recent program history. This follows two years of elevated funding, with $215 million awarded in FY 2023 and $233 million in FY 2024, driven in part by supplemental appropriations under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The 2025 awards were distributed to communities across the country to support site assessments, remediation efforts, revolving loan fund programs, and supplemental funding for high-performing local programs.
While current-year funding remains high, the proposed FY 2026 federal budget outlines significant reductions. The administration has called for a 54% overall cut to the EPA, with a 50% reduction to the brownfield program specifically. This would lower the program’s budget from $25.7 million to $12.9 million. In addition, the EPA proposes eliminating a categorical grant program for brownfield remediation and reducing the State and Tribal Assistance Grant program by $18 million. These proposals are pending congressional review but signal a clear intent to reduce federal funding support for brownfield redevelopment over the next fiscal cycle.
Even as budget constraints emerge, the need for assessing and remediating brownfields remains high, especially at the state and local government level.
“Brownfield redevelopment remains a top priority in many communities as pressure to return contaminated sites into productive use grows,” said Dianne Crocker, research director at LightBox. “But as federal funding tightens, more pressure will fall on state and local programs to fill the gap. That’s pushing environmental consultants to work more closely with a growing range of stakeholders, including community groups, local agencies, and private investors as public-private partnerships become increasingly critical.”
Brownfields Are Evolving from Cleanup Projects to Strategic Assets
Federal legislation is poised to reshape how brownfield projects are funded and implemented. In February 2025, the Brownfields Reauthorization Act (S. 347) passed unanimously out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. If signed into law, it would extend EPA brownfield funding through FY 2030, expand eligibility to include nonprofit entities, and raise per-site caps for Assessment and Cleanup grants from $500,000 to $1 million.
These policy moves reflect growing recognition of brownfields as part of a broader redevelopment strategy. In July, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law, strengthening long-standing incentives like the New Markets Tax Credit and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit while making Opportunity Zone reforms permanent. These tools can now be more easily paired with brownfield investments to support job creation, housing construction, and community infrastructure improvements.
The cumulative impact of brownfield redevelopment programs is substantial. Since 1995, the EPA’s Brownfields Program has awarded nearly $2.9 billion in grants, generating over $40 billion in redevelopment activity and supporting more than 270,000 jobs. Yet federal funding alone rarely carries a project to completion.
“Most brownfield projects depend on a patchwork of capital sources,” Crocker added. “It’s common to see EPA grants paired with state brownfield funding, tax increment financing, and Opportunity Zone incentives.”
How LightBox Live Supports Brownfield Redevelopment
Brownfield assessment and remediation projects can be complex, challenging environmental consultants to assess broad streams of property data and multiple avenues of reporting requirements, often under tight timeframes. LightBox Live is designed to support that critical work across all phases of a brownfield assessment project.
The platform enables consultants to launch compliant Phase I ESA workflows, access more than 1,800 environmental datasets, and surface risk factors early in the process. Integrated mapping capabilities allow users to evaluate parcels in context for zoning, infrastructure, sensitive receptors, and proximity to reuse incentives such as defined Opportunity Zones or TIF areas.
Consultants with projects receiving federal grant funding can easily inventory properties, manage Phase I and II ESA projects, and keep planning documents and stakeholder logs centralized. For Cleanup Grants, users can monitor remediation progress, upload annotated site maps, and maintain documentation for regulators. Revolving Loan Fund administrators can also view activity across dozens of projects and standardize underwriting and compliance workflows.
Applications for FY 2026 Brownfields Job Training Grants opened in May, with $14 million available to prepare residents for careers in environmental assessment and cleanup. Job Training Grant recipients are using the platform as a live training environment, giving participants hands-on experience with the same tools used in real project delivery.
LightBox Live also streamlines ACRES reporting and creates clear visual deliverables for public meetings, grant updates, or investor communications. The goal is to reduce friction in project execution and help consultants keep projects moving through assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment.
More than 21,700 people have completed EPA’s brownfield job training programs since the program’s inception, with a 75% placement rate into environmental careers. With FY 2026 grants now open, LightBox Live helps ensure these new professionals enter the workforce equipped with modern tools, accurate data, and defensible workflows.
Redevelopment Momentum Depends on Execution
Brownfield revitalization remains a national priority, supported by investment at the federal, state, and local levels. Since 2023, more than $700 million has been allocated through EPA’s grant programs, with additional funding linked to broader goals such as housing development, infrastructure modernization, and environmental justice. While the commitment to assessment, remediation, and reuse is strong, these projects are often complex, requiring the coordination of multiple stakeholders, regulatory compliance, and management of large volumes of technical site data and reporting requirements. As the need for brownfield redevelopment grows and funding sources expands, so does the expectation for transparent, measurable outcomes that show progress toward community revitalization goals.
LightBox Live supports the important work of brownfield assessment and remediation projects by equipping teams with real-time data, structured workflows, and purpose-built tools for every stage of the brownfield lifecycle.
Explore how LightBox Live supports EPA-funded brownfield initiatives. Schedule a demo to see how the platform can transform your due diligence workflow.
