United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-097
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
\>EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Cila River Indian Community, AZ
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 the Gila River Indian Community
for a Brownfields Pilot. The Gila River Indian
Community is a federally recognized tribe located in
southcentral Arizona. The reservation encompasses
640 square miles, spanning across both Maricopaand
Final counties. The reservation is the fourth most
populous Indian reservation in the United States,
including approximately 21,000 tribal members. The
tribal population currently experiences a 31 percent
unemployment rate, with 22 percent of tribal members
living below the poverty line.
The reservation is bordered to the north by the City
of Phoenix and to the east by a significant growth
corridor linking the City of Phoenix and the Town
of Coolidge. The Pilot will target the Blackwater
Industrial Park because of its proximity to this
major growth corridor. The Blackwater Industrial
Park has three abandoned sites—a former explosive
manufacturing plant, a former furniture resin
manufacturing plant, and a used tire storage
facility—all of which are perceived to have
environmental contamination.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Gila River Indian
Community, AZ
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Gila River Indian
Community Pilot will target
brownfields in the Blackwater
Industrial Park site.
Contacts:
Gila River Indian Community Regional Brownfields Team
Department of Environmental Quality U.S. EPA- Region 9
(520) 562-2234, ext.222 (415) 744-2237
Visit the EPA Region 9 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.html
Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields newsand events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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OBJECTIVES
The purpose of the Pilot will be to help ensure that
the Gila River Indian Community will be included
within the area's broader economic growth initiatives.
The Pilot will help prepare for the revitalization of
the Blackwater Industrial Park. The project strategy
centers on effectively combining the interests and
resources of all parties to logically proceed from the
presently unused or abandoned sites to offering the
sites as locations for new businesses or other
economic activities.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as a part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting Phase I and Phase II environmental site
assessments of brownfields within the Blackwater
Industrial Park;
• Preparing a site restoration plan; and
• Conducting community involvement activities to
develop possible reuse scenarios.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subjectto change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Gila River Indian Community, AZ
May2000 EPA 500-F-00-097
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