VINCENNES, Ind. (AP) – Five southern Indiana counties have formed a coalition to try to secure money to clean up abandoned and oftentimes contaminated commercial and industrial sites.

The Vincennes Sun-Commercial  reports (http://bit.ly/1x7uT8i ) Knox, Daviess, Greene, Lawrence and Martin counties are working with the Southern Indiana Development Commission in Loogootee in applying for a $600,000 brownfield grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The money would be used to identify brownfield sites, abandoned properties that could pose an environmental threat because of previous manufacturing or storage practices, and work to develop plans to get them cleaned up.

If the grant is awarded, the commission would establish a committee aimed at compiling a list of potential sites and prioritizing them for assessment.