$836M set up to help former GM towns

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, May 19 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama Wednesday announced $836 million would be made available for cities struggling to recover from the General Motor Co.'s restructuring.

GM went through bankruptcy last summer, emerging as a much smaller company. The assets the company abandoned, collectively called Motors Liquidation, was allotted $1.2 billion in federal funds to dispense with GM's unwanted properties, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.

In Youngstown, Ohio, Obama said the $836 trust was a "landmark agreement to help dozens of communities like Youngstown revitalize and redevelop."

In Washington, at a summit of political leaders from areas affected by the downturn in the automobile industry, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said, "This will enable us to do clean-up and recover the properties for specific employers."

Ed Montgomery, an administration official overseeing the revitalization, said, "These former assets can be returned to you the citizens as productive places."

Out of the $836 million, $536 million is stipulated for environmental cleanup, the newspaper said.