United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-090
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Essex County, NJ
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA has selected Essex County for a Brownfields
Pilot. Essex County (population 750,273) is the
second most densely populated county in the most
densely populated state in the United States.
Historically, the county developed as an industrial hub
because of its advantageous location on Newark Bay
and the Passaic River. Over the past several decades,
social and commercial trends have led employers to
migrate from the area, leaving behind underutilized
and abandoned properties. This situation has led to
poverty and crime throughout the county. There has
also been a decrease in population in the past 20 years,
with the county losing almost 100,000 residents since
1980. Currently, the population makeup is 12 percent
Hispanic, 42 percentnon-white, and 45 percent white,
but in the target area, the population is 5 0 percent non-
white and 8 percent Hispanic.
The Pilot targets five communities—Belleville,
Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington, and Orange. The
target municipalities are all distressed communities
that share similar problems, including significant
employment decline, large minority and immigrant
populations, high concentrations of poverty, and
increased social service needs. The shift from
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Essex County, NJ
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: Essex County targets
the five communities of
Belleville, Bloomfield, East
Orange, Irvington, and Orange
forbrownfieldsassessmentand
redevelopment planning.
Contacts:
Essex County
(973)395-8400
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 2
(212)637-4314
Visit the EPA Region 2 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/r02earth/superFnd/brownfld/bfmainpg.htm
Forfurtherinformation, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields newsandevente.and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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manufacturing to service employment, corporate
downsizing, changing market demands,
environmentally stringent regulations, efforts to contain
costs, and corporate restructuring and mergers have
left behind older, obsolete physical plants and
underutilized and contaminated properties. Currently
150 brownfield sites have been identified in the
county. Of these, one-third are located within the
targeted area and are located in or adjacent to
residential neighborhoods.
OBJECTIVES
Essex County plans to use the Pilot funds to design
and implement a model brownfields cleanup and
redevelopment process, including identification,
assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment planning for
brownfields sites in the target area. Their goal is to
stop the economic decay and resulting urban flight
that currently plague the county. The Pilot, in
partnership with the targeted communities, will enable
the county to redevelop brownfields sites and
economically revitalize the communities of Belleville,
Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington, and Orange.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting a site inventory using existing planning
information and then selecting and assessing sites in
the Pilot area;
• Identifying barriers to redevelopment and identifying
strategies to overcome these barriers;
• Enhancing ongoing cleanup planning efforts through
site-specific information and consensus-based
visions; and
• Creating a forum for expanded and interactive
community involvement in the Pilot area.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Essex County, NJ
May2000 EPA 500-F-00-090
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