A Lincoln County planning panel has won $400,000 to study possible hazardous waste sites.

The work could get some properties out from under a cloud of uncertainty that keeps their owners from selling or developing them, officials with the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the commission two $200,000 grants, the commission's economic and community development director Mary Ellen Barnes said May 10.

The work will show property owners what if anything needs addressing and about how much the cleanup would cost. The information could also help owners get grants or other funding toward cleanup, the commission's chairman Dick McLean said.

Some owners may learn that no clean up is necessary, McLean said.

“If there is no problem there, this really enhances their ability to market the property,” he said.

“We're delighted,” McLean said about the grants.

The commission has tried twice before to get the grants and come up empty. However, the EPA encouraged the commission to keep trying, Barnes said.

The commission's goal with the three-year project is two-fold, Barnes said: job growth that could result from sites' eventual cleanup and re-use; and public health.

There are still some unknowns, including which properties will be studied.  A steering committee the commission is getting together will draft criteria for picking the sites. Both public and private properties are eligible, Barnes said.

Some likely criteria are the property's potential for redevelopment; possible public health issues regarding the property; and the site's fit into its town's comprehensive plan, Barnes said.

Neither she nor McClean ventured a prediction on how many requests will come in for the studies.

About seven sites of possible petroleum waste will be picked for study along with about five sites of other possible hazardous waste, Barnes said. Those will then be pared to about five petroleum sites and about three hazardous waste sites for further study.

Barnes expects the steering committee to include town officials and representatives of the Chewonki Foundation and several other environmental, public health and business organizations.

The $400,000 the commission won is part of a $62.5 million round of grants just announced nationwide to address “brownfields,” or properties whose future uses are in limbo due to suspected contamination.

The U.S. has about 450,000 brownfields, according to the EPA's website  at www.epa.gov.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com