U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Thomas V. Skinner recently presented the City of Sterling, Ill., with a certificate of appreciation for outstanding brownfields work at the site of the former Northwestern Steel and Wire. The recognition for commitment to excellence came as part of this year's National Brownfields Conference in Denver.

Certificates of appreciation were also presented to several other Midwest communities and organizations for outstanding brownfields work, including:

• City of LaPorte, Ind., for Newporte Landing.
• City of Monroe, Mich., for Mason Run.
• City of St. Paul, Minn., for the Hmong Funeral Home.
• City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for St. Michael's Hospital (in addition, Cuyahoga County was recognized for its exceptional leadership).
• City of Milwaukee, Wis., for King and Hadley Cleanup.
• Milwaukee Community Service Corps. for its brownfields job training pilot.

"I am amazed and inspired at all that today's awardees have been able to accomplish," Mr. Skinner said. "Clearly there is no shortage of creativity, innovation and ingenuity when it comes to brownfield redevelop projects in the Midwest."

Brownfields are abandoned or contaminated industrial sites. Region 5 serves its brownfield communities through 313 cooperative agreements, 181 assessment grants, 12 job training grants and 15 tribal agreements. Approximately $34.2 million in national EPA Brownfields funds have gone to Midwest states and tribes, and Region 5 has awarded another $161 million in grants.

So far, 4,566 acres in the Midwest have been returned to productive use through EPA's Brownfields program. Redevelopment, now underway at 1,218 Midwest properties, has helped generate 2,731 cleanup and construction jobs.