Brownfields Grants Are About to Get Harder to Win

A practical warning for communities preparing for the next EPA Brownfields competition

Contributed by Jenny Black, Brownfield Grant Specialist, PPM Consultants, Inc.

Why FY 2027 Brownfields Funding Could Change the Competition

For the last several years, Brownfields applicants have been competing in an unusual funding environment. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law gave EPA more money to work with, and that translated into more awards, larger awards, and more room for communities that were still building their Brownfields redevelopment strategy.

That window now appears to be narrowing. EPA’s planning materials released to date suggest FY 2027 Brownfields grant funding could result in a much smaller competition. Based on past EPA release cycles and current planning signals, solicitations for FY 2027 Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup grants are expected in fall 2026, with applications due approximately 60 calendar days after the solicitations are published. EPA also notes that anticipated funding amounts are “subject to change,” but the current numbers are hard to ignore: approximately 93 total competitive awards nationwide, totaling roughly $64 million based on current planning estimates.

Current EPA planning materials also indicate that no Multipurpose Grant solicitation is anticipated in FY 2027. For communities in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana, this is not just a federal funding footnote. It is an early warning. The next Brownfields competition is likely to be tighter, less forgiving, and much more dependent on preparation before the Notice of Funding Opportunity is released.

For related PPM context on the previous competition cycle, see New FY26 EPA Brownfields NOFOs: What’s Changed and How PPM Consultants Can Help You Compete and Are You Really Grant-Ready? on the PPM Blog.

The FY 2027 Brownfields Grant Funding Drop Is Not Subtle

The funding shift becomes clearer when the recent award years are placed beside EPA’s current FY 2027 planning numbers.

In FY 2024, EPA selected 180 communities for 183 Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup grant awards totaling $233 million. EPA also announced another $68 million in Revolving Loan Fund supplemental funding. Together, the announcement represented more than $300 million in Brownfields investment, including approximately $160 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. EPA’s FY 2024 Brownfields selection announcement provides the award details.

In FY 2025, EPA selected 207 communities for 214 Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup grant awards totaling more than $224 million. EPA also announced $42 million in RLF supplemental funding, bringing the national Brownfields announcement to nearly $267 million. EPA’s FY 2025 ARC grant selection announcement provides the current award comparison.

By comparison, EPA’s current FY 2027 planning materials anticipate approximately 93 competitive awards totaling roughly $64 million. EPA also lists the FY 2027 ARC competition among its current and upcoming Brownfields funding opportunities.

If those numbers hold, EPA would be moving from 214 competitive ARC awards in FY 2025 to 93 projected competitive ARC awards in FY 2027. That is more than a 56% reduction in the number of competitive awards.

The actual FY 2027 competition may still change. Congress may act. EPA’s final solicitation may look different from the current planning materials. But communities should not build their Brownfields strategy around the hope that the funding environment will somehow return to what it looked like during the BIL years.

What Reduced EPA Brownfields Funding Means for Southeast Communities

For communities in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana, the competition was already difficult. Based on PPM’s review of EPA’s FY 2025 ARC applicant list, there were 46 applications from these five states. Based on that same review, 16 applications were selected.

That means approximately 65% of applications from these states were not selected, even while BIL-era funding was still supporting the program. PPM has written separately about how the national distribution of Brownfields awards affected Region 4 communities in Brownfields 2025: How Region 1 Cleaned Up and Why Region 4 Missed Out.

* Selected application count based on PPM’s review of EPA’s FY 2025 ARC applicant table.

That is the part communities need to sit with. Even in a much larger funding environment, most applications in these five states did not win.

Now imagine that same level of demand competing in a national funding pool EPA currently estimates at only 93 total competitive awards across all regions for FY 2027. The practical effect is increasingly clear: applications that might have been competitive two years ago may not be competitive in the next cycle.

A community with a decent site list, a general redevelopment concept, and a broad statement of need may have had a chance during the expanded funding years. In FY 2027, that same application may get passed over for one that shows a clearer reuse strategy, stronger site control, better community engagement, and a more believable path from assessment or cleanup to redevelopment.

FY 2027 Brownfields Grant Requirements Will Reward Readiness

The smaller funding pool is not the only issue. EPA indicates that FY 2027 Brownfields grants are expected to be funded solely through annual Congressional appropriations to EPA’s Brownfields and Land Revitalization Program. That matters because the BIL years temporarily changed the practical funding environment.

For FY 2027, EPA says grants will return to statutory requirements, including CERCLA § 104(k), the $200,000 per-site assessment cap, and the 20% cost share or match requirement for Cleanup and Revolving Loan Fund grants. EPA’s Programmatic Requirements for Brownfield Grants are a useful reference for the technical obligations that come with grant funding.

That changes the planning conversation. Applicants will need to think harder about which sites belong in an assessment strategy, how cleanup match will be documented, and whether the proposed project is ready enough to justify EPA investment. A wish list of properties will not be enough. A vague promise of redevelopment will not be enough either.

This is where disciplined Brownfield grant applications and management become more important. Communities should expect reviewers to look closely at whether the proposed work is realistic, whether the local need is well documented, and whether the applicant has the capacity to move the grant forward after award.

Brownfields Reauthorization Is Moving, But It Is Not a Rescue Plan Yet

Congress is moving on Brownfields legislation, and that is worth watching. On May 14, 2026, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment advanced H.R. 8739, the Brownfields Revitalization for a Better Tomorrow Act, by voice vote and reported it to the full committee. The introduced bill text is also available through GovInfo.

The Senate has also moved Brownfields legislation. S. 347, the Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025, was introduced on January 30, 2025, reported by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on February 5, 2025, and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar. The reported Senate bill text is available through GovInfo.

That activity is encouraging. But it is not the same thing as money in the next grant round. Reauthorization and appropriation are not interchangeable. Congress can authorize the program, modify statutory requirements, or raise certain limits. But the actual funding still has to be appropriated.

For communities preparing for FY 2027, the safer assumption is that the competition will be smaller and more competitive until proven otherwise.

What Could the FY 2027 Brownfields Grant Win Rate Look Like?

This is not a formal EPA projection, but the math is useful.

In FY 2025, the five Southeast states discussed above submitted 46 ARC applications, and 16 were selected. That is an estimated win rate of about 35%.

EPA’s current FY 2027 planning numbers show 93 competitive awards nationwide, compared to 214 ARC awards in FY 2025. If demand in these five states remains close to FY 2025 levels, and if awards shrink in proportion to the national reduction, the Gulf South could be looking at something closer to seven awards instead of 16 if awards decrease proportionally.

That could move the practical win rate from roughly one in three to something closer to one in six. Again, that is not an EPA forecast. It is a scenario. But it illustrates the point: communities should not approach the next competition as if the BIL-era odds still apply.

How Communities Can Prepare for a More Competitive Brownfields Cycle

The BIL years gave communities a rare opening. More applications could win, more projects could move, and more communities had room to learn the Brownfields process while still being competitive.

FY 2027 may not offer that same margin. In a smaller funding environment, EPA reviewers will likely become less forgiving of weak narratives, incomplete community engagement strategies, and speculative redevelopment concepts. Applicants that treated the BIL years as an opportunity to experiment may now need to return to highly disciplined, technically defensible applications.

That does not mean communities should pull back. It means they should start earlier. For many applicants, the work needs to begin before the solicitation is released. That may include refining the priority site list, documenting community need, confirming ownership or access issues, identifying realistic reuse outcomes, and making sure local partners understand their role in the project.

This is especially important for communities trying to connect assessment funding to real reuse outcomes. PPM has discussed this issue in practical terms in Tapping into No-Cost Brownfield Assessment Grant Services on Your Next Project, Brownfield Tools Help CRAs Unlock Redevelopment Opportunities, and From Blight to Boom: How Brownfield Redevelopment and Trade Area Analysis Revived a Community.

The strongest applications will likely be the ones that already know what problem they are trying to solve.

Bottom Line: Brownfields Funding Is Still Available, But the Margin Is Smaller

The EPA Brownfields Program can still change communities. It remains one of the most practical federal tools for turning underused, contaminated, or potentially contaminated properties back into productive use.

But the next cycle is likely to be different. For communities in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana, the next Brownfields competition will probably reward applicants that have already done the hard work: defining priority sites, documenting community need, connecting cleanup to reuse, and showing EPA that the project is ready to move.

The opportunity is still there. It will just be harder to win.

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