SEFft
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Solid Waste
And Emergency Response
(5401G)
EPA 510-F-00-011
October 2000
www.epa.gov
Underground  Storage
Tanks  And  Brownfields  Sites
                                                                  ILLINOIS/Chicago
EPA's USTfields Initiative will fund pilots in Brownfields communities to assess and clean up petroleum contamination from
federally-regulated underground storage tanks (USTs) at idle or abandoned commercial properties. Petroleum contamination is
generally excluded from coverage under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA) and is not, therefore, covered under EPA's Brownfields Program.  In its USTfields Pilot Program, EPA's Office of
Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) has selected 10 state/local pilots in which the state will partner with a local area to assess
and/or clean up two or more petroleum-impacted underground storage tank sites. Each pilot state will receive up to $100,000 of
LUST Trust funds to be used to assess and clean up the local area sites.  This will help to ready them for future reuse.
BACKGROUND

EPA selected the State of Illinois as an USTfields
Pilot. Under the USTfields pilot,  Illinois will work with
the City of Chicago, through the  city's Abandoned
Service Station Management Program, to assess
and clean up five abandoned gas stations that are
considered a threat to public health and safety and
a public nuisance.  The  locally-funded Abandoned
Service Station Management Program was
established in 1996 to address the hundreds of
abandoned and former service stations in the city.
Since then, the program has cleaned up and
secured more than 25 sites, though many more
sites remain. The City of Chicago is a  Brownfields
Assessment and Showcase Community as well as a
recipient of a Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan
Fund grant.


OBJECTIVES

The state will use USTfields pilot funds to conduct
risk-based assessments and cleanups at tank-
impacted sites to protect human health and the
environment. The USTfields partnership with the
city's Abandoned Service Station Management
Program will help to secure the safety  of residents
and foster the revitalization of neighborhoods
across the City of Chicago. A few of the proposed
uses for cleaned up properties include low-income
housing, public green space, and commercial
establishments.
                                                         Region 5
                            Applicant Name: Illinois

                            Local Partner: City of Chicago

                            Date of Selection: October2000

                            Profile: The state will work with the city to assess
                            and clean up petroleum contamination at former
                            gasoline stations to help remove a barrier to
                            redevelopment.
                            Contacts:

                            EPA Region 5

                            Arturo Cisneros
                            (312) 886-7447
                                                                 Ilinois Environmental
                                                                 Protection Agency

                                                                 Steve Colantino
                                                                 (217) 785-3497
                                                 For further information, go to www.epa.gov/oust/
                                 EPA USTfields INITIATIVE
    EPA and the state have not yet negotiated the Cooperative Agreement to fund this pilot; therefore, activities are subject to change.

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