United States
                   Environmental
                   Protection Agency
                   Washington, D.C.  20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5101)
  EPA 500-F-00-121
  May 2000
  www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  \>EPA  Brownfields  Assessment
                  Demonstration  Pilot
                                                 Somerset 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 Somerset County for a
Brownfields Pilot. Somerset County has a number
of older, industrial,  demographically challenged,
distressed town centers, including Bound Brook,
Raritan, North Plainfield, Somerfield, South Bound
Brook, and Manville. These communities form the
bygone industrial and manufacturing backbone of
Somerset County and have a number of known
brownfields sites. The impact of brownfields on
these targeted communities is severe.  Somerset
county has more than 400 brownfields  totaling
nearly 200,000 acres.  The targeted communities
have almost 25 percent of the brownfields in the
county, but only have 4 percent of the total land.
Minority populations and senior citizens make up
the  residential component of the neighborhoods
near the brownfield sites where unemployment
figures are high and household income is low.

OBJECTIVES

The county's objective is to revitalize   targeted
brownfields in Somerset County both economically
and environmentally. The Pilot funds will augment
the existing brownfields program and broaden smart
growth strategic s in Somerset County. Pilot activities
PILOT SNAPSHOT
  Somerset County, NJ
Date of Announcement:
May2000

Amount: $200,000

Profile: The Pilot will target
brownfields located in several
socially and economically
distressed communities, including
Bound Brook, Raritan, North
Plainfield, Somerville,  South
Bound Brook and Manville.
 Contacts:
 Somerset County
 Administration Building
 (908)231-7000
 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 Pilotinformation.brownfieldsnewsandevents.and
   publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
         http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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will help to mitigate potential health threats in the
targeted communities and spur redevelopmentthrough
assessment and cleanup activities at the two or three
selected brownfields sites in Somerset County.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Conducting various site selection activities, such as
  creating ageographic information system and other
  databases to evaluate and rank brownfields in the
  targeted areas;

• Performing environmental site assessments at the
  selected sites;

• Conducting community outreach to help guide Pilot
  activities and involve local residents with the targeted
  sites; and

• Developing a computer model to help cleanup and
  redevelopment planning at the targeted sites.

The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
 Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot                                               Somerset County, NJ
 May2000                                                                          EPA 500-F-00-121

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