Montrose Earns $3.3M EPA Grant to Clean Former Bullock Plant

What happens to the bones of our industrial past when the lights go out?

It’s a question that hangs over the former Bullock Electric Steam Plant on West South Fourth Street, where the air still carries the faint, metallic tang of a century of coal-fired energy. For thirty years, from 1953 to 1983, that plant hummed and roared, supplying power to the City of Montrose before being retired and left to rot. Now, after decades of sitting idle, falling into disrepair, and leaching toxic metals, volatile organic compounds, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons into the soil, the site has a future. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has selected Montrose to receive a $3.3 million Cleanup Grant, a financial injection that promises to scrub the earth and pave the way for a climbing gym and recreational hub.

The money isn’t just a line item in a budget; it’s a tool for transformation. The City of Montrose purchased the site from JM Generation on October 12, 2021, specifically to clean up the area and redevelop it. The plan is tangible: a mixed-use space that invites neighbors to climb, play, and gather. But before the first rope can be hung or the first ball thrown, the ground itself must be healed. The grant will target the remnants of the plant’s operations, addressing the specific contaminants that have settled into the dirt since the facility went offline.

This isn’t an isolated event in the annals of environmental remediation. The EPA awarded a total of $9 million in Brownfields Multipurpose Assessment and Cleanup grants across Colorado, targeting sites that have long been neglected or underutilized. While Montrose’s share is the largest single award for cleanup in the state, other communities are also moving to clear their own burdens. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment secured a $2 million assessment grant to conduct inventories and community outreach across priority sites. Meanwhile, smaller towns are tackling specific hazards: Sheridan is evaluating asbestos and benzene at three sites for $500,000; Lamar is assessing lead and petroleum residues for the same amount; and Trinidad is tackling asbestos and lead at five sites. Even La Puente Home, Inc. in Alamosa is receiving $1.8 million to clean lead and arsenic from Railroad Plaza, the largest vacant property in that town.

There’s a warmth to the idea of repurposing these spaces, but there’s also a roughness to the process. You can feel it in the history of the Bullock Plant itself — a coal-fired beast that once defined the city’s energy grid, now reduced to a brownfield waiting for its second act. Thomas Croci, Acting Assistant Administrator for Land and Emergency Management, noted that the EPA is focused on delivering practical results that transform contaminated properties into clean, valuable spaces. He spoke of driving local job creation and unleashing new economic opportunities, framing the cleanup not just as an environmental necessity, but as an engine for growth.

The funds will be awarded once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied, a reminder that bureaucracy moves at its own pace, even when the earth is ready to be healed. For the folks in Montrose, the wait is a necessary one. The soil needs time to be tested, the plans need time to be drawn, and the community needs time to imagine what a climbing gym looks like in the shadow of a former power plant.

As the grant money flows in, the site at 30 West South Fourth Street will likely see more activity than it has in decades. Trucks will roll in, surveys will be taken, and the quiet decay of the last forty years will finally be interrupted by the sound of progress. It’s a shift from silence to noise, from neglect to purpose, and it starts with the dirt beneath our feet.