EPA awards grants

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has issued $18.6 million in grants to 56 communities and organizations for brownfield improvements in six states across the upper Midwest. The agency said Tuesday that the money would be used in the Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin to help properties where pollution or other hazardous substances make expansion or redevelopment difficult. The EPA issued 314 brownfield grants this year nationally, totaling $74 million.