Ohio’s Brownfield Remediation Program

2025 Budget Brings Changes to the Brownfield Remediation Program.

The Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program provides grants for the clean-up and remediation of brownfield sites. Remediation activities includes the acquisition of a brownfield, demolition performed at a brownfield, and the installation or upgrade of the minimum amount of infrastructure necessary to make a brownfield site operational for economic development activity, including the construction of housing. Changes made by the budget expand remediation activities to include demolition and infrastructure development costs associated with constructing, upgrading, or extending infrastructure necessary to make a brownfield operational.

New in 2025, lawmakers have approved a number of changes to the program. Incoming changes to the program include:

• Priority Investment Areas: Sites that are intended to site infrastructure for generating, transporting, storing, or transmitting electricity at a brownfield or formal coal mine qualify for brownfield remediation grants. Grants can be used for environmental or cultural resource site assessments, the monitoring, remediation, cleanup, or containment of land to remove any condition or substance, including hazardous substances, hazardous wastes, solid wastes, or petroleum, as well as the demolition and removal of existing infrastructure, grading, or other site work necessary to make the site usable for economic development. Grants can also be used to develop a remediation and reuse plan, and the development or operation of a site for energy generation or battery storage.

• Elimination of Local Match Requirements: Grants under the Brownfield Remediation Program will no longer require a local match to qualify for a grant. Previously, grants were limited to 75% of a projects expected cost, with the remaining 25% needing to be provided by a qualified local government, non-profit, or for-profit entity, with the exception of grants awarded out of the first $1 million set aside each Ohio county is entitled to under the program.

• Elimination of the Designated Lead Applicant: In the 2023 and 2025 application windows, all applications were required to be submitted by a designated lead applicant who represented all requests in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. This requirement has been eliminated and now all qualified grant recipients, including counties, municipalities, townships, for-profits, port authorities, and land banks, can submit an application directly to the Ohio Department of Development, who remains the lead agency responsible for the program administration.

• Elimination of the first come, first serve grant award process: Lawmakers have done away with the first come, first serve process for grant awards that has been in place since the Brownfield Remediation Program was created in 2021. Now, all grant applications submitted to the Ohio Department of Development will be reviewed on a case by case basis. The budget specifies that in making award determinations, the Department shall evaluate the “economic merit of the project to the county, surrounding counties, and state.” The Department shall also ensure that projects awarded are in different regions of the state.

A total of $100 million will be available in both Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027. In fiscal year 2026, $1 million will be reserved for each county, leaving a total of $12 million available for merit based awards in the first year of the budget. All $100 million in grants will be merit-based in fiscal year 2027.

GOPC will continue to work with the Ohio Department of Development to ensure all project types and end uses are considered for merit based grants as the agency works on revised program guidelines ahead of the next application window. Be sure to check back for updates, likely after October 1, 2025.