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Indiana Brownfields Program - Why It Runs Through the IFA

The Indiana Brownfields Program is administered by the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA), not the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). The Indiana General Assembly assigned the program to IFA in 2005 under Public Law 235-2005 (Senate Enrolled Act 578), and consultants who search IDEM’s site for brownfield grants or comfort letters are looking in the wrong place. Here is how the program is structured and what it offers redevelopment projects.

Why the Program Sits at a Finance Authority

The placement reflects the program’s purpose. It exists to remove environmental barriers to local economic growth at abandoned, inactive, or underutilized commercial and industrial properties, not to enforce cleanup obligations. Housing it in a finance authority puts the emphasis on grants, loans, and transaction support rather than regulatory action.

The structure is a hybrid. IDEM project managers are embedded within the Brownfields Program to provide environmental technical support, so applicants get development expertise and cleanup expertise from the same office.

What the Program Offers

Environmental Site Assessments

The program provides site assessments to units of government to characterize contamination, identify exposure pathways, and estimate cleanup costs before a redevelopment decision. The work follows the same Risk-based Closure Guide (WASTE-0046-R2, “the R2”) framework used at every other Indiana cleanup site.

Comfort and Site Status Letters

Unknown liability is what keeps brownfield properties idle. Under IDEM Nonrule Policy Document W-0051 (April 18, 2002), the program issues Comfort and Site Status Letters describing a property’s environmental status and IDEM’s intentions for the site. These letters give prospective purchasers a degree of regulatory certainty, though they do not carry the liability protection of a Voluntary Remediation Program (VRP) Covenant Not to Sue.

Financial Assistance

  • State grants and low-interest loans administered by IFA in conjunction with IDEM
  • Federal EPA Brownfield Assessment Grants for site characterization and planning
  • Federal EPA Brownfield Cleanup Grants for remediation at eligible properties
  • LUST Trust Fund monies for petroleum cleanup at eligible leaking underground storage tank sites

Same Cleanup Standards as Any IDEM Site

Brownfield cleanups follow the R2 and the same Published Level Tables used by all IDEM programs, at a target cancer risk of 0.00001 and a hazard quotient of 1. Investigation methods, screening levels, and closure criteria are identical whether the cleanup runs through the Brownfields Program, the VRP, or the State Cleanup Program.

Brownfields Program or VRP?

The two programs are complementary and often run on the same property. The Brownfields Program serves parties who did not cause the contamination and need financial, legal, and technical tools to redevelop. The VRP serves parties seeking formal closure: the IDEM Commissioner issues a Certificate of Completion under IC 13-25-5-16, and the Governor’s Office issues the Covenant Not to Sue, which is the actual liability instrument.

What this means in practice: a common path is assessment assistance through the Brownfields Program to characterize the site and scope costs, followed by VRP enrollment to earn the Covenant. Institutional controls at program sites appear on the IFA site list, most recently updated February 2026, and in the broader IDEM Institutional Controls Registry.

Ohio note: Ohio takes the opposite structural approach. Its Brownfield Redevelopment Program is administered by Ohio EPA’s Division of Environmental Response and Revitalization, the same division that handles enforcement-driven cleanups, with the Voluntary Action Program providing the liability protection track.

For the closure mechanics behind these sites, see our Indiana program overviews and the R2 walkthrough, and review the applicable standards for current Published Levels.