United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C.  20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response  (5105)
 EPA 500-F-01-263
 April 2001
 www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  &EPA       EPA  Brownfields
                      Assessment
                      Demonstration  Pilot
                     South Central Regional Council of Governments, CT
 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, and safely clean up
brownfields to promote their sustainable reuse.  Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial  and
commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental
contamination. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years,
with additional funding provided for greenspace) to test assessment models and facilitate coordinated assessment
and cleanup efforts at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels; and 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 program (each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) to provide financial assistance 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

EPAhas selected the South CentralRegional Council
of Governments (SCRCOG) for a Brownfields
Assessment Pilot.  The  SCRCOG  represents
500,000 people in 15 towns and cities in south
central Connecticut. The SCRCOG and  its
associated economic  development partner, the
RegionalGrowthPartnership,serveasanintermediary
between their member municipalities and the state.
The Quinnipiac River corridor, one of the most
urbanized and industrial areas of the country, is
targeted for the Pilot. The corridor includes parts of
three municipalities—New Haven, North Haven,
and Hamden—with a combined population of
198,547. The corridor is characterized by industrial
properties with known or suspected contamination
from major spills, waste lagoons, and landfills.

The region has suffered economically due to the
decline of a once thriving manufacturing corridor
along the Quinnipiac River in the 1970s and 1980s,
and recovery has been slow. Economic recovery in
Connecticut lags behind most other states in the
nation. Of the three municipalities targeted for the
Pilot, New Haven has the highest poverty rate (21.3
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
April 2001

Amount: $200,000

Profile:  The Pilot will target
sites in the Quinnipiac River
corridor, which is economically
distressed due to a decline in
manufacturing during the 1970s
and 1980s.
    South CentralRegional
    Council of Governments,
    Connecticut
Contacts:

Regional Growth Partnership
(203)821-3682
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 1
(617)918-1424
     Visit the E PA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
     http://www.epa.gov/region01/remed/brnfld/

   Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
 additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
 publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
        http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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percent), unemployment (4 percent), and minority
populations (58 percent). New Haven also is a
Federal Enterprise Community and Empowerment
Zone.HamdenandNew Haven are state-designated
distressed municipalities, and, therefore, are eligible
for economic redevelopment benefits from the State
ofConnecticut.

OBJECTIVES

SCRCOG's overall objective is to apply a multi-
jurisdictional planning approach to the selection,
assessment, cleanup, and reuse of properties served
by existing infrastructure in the corridor. As part of
SCRCOG' s redevelopment planning, the Pilot will
define contamination problems at properties to be
selected in the three municipalities and reach out to
stakeholders to ensure community input in the
decision-making process.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Identifyingandprioritizingsitesforredevelopment
  through a Project Advisory Committee, whose
  members represent municipal governments and
  the generalcommunity;

• Conducting  environmental site assessments on
  selected properties; and

• Involving the communities affected by the sites in
  decision-making.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
 Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot                       South Central Regional Council of Governments, Connecticut
 April 2001                                                                         EPA500-F-01-263

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