United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-01-285
April 2001
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA EPA Brownfields
Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Puerto Rico Infrastructure Financing Authority
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
EPA has selected the Puerto Rico Infrastructure
Financing Authority for a Brownfields Assessment
Pilot. The Infrastructure Financing Authority, aPuerto
Rico government agency, seeks to revitalize the
Route 127 industrial corridor as an adjunct to the
Puerto Rico Transshipment Port Project, which will
result in a new deep-draft, container transshipment
port in the Caribbean. The Route 127 corridor,
which runs from Guayanilla to Punuelas, the two
communities that will be most influenced by the new
port, is the area targeted by the Pilot.
During the energy crisis of the 1970s, many operations
in the corridor closed and those that remained
reduced their level of productivity. Some properties
in the corridor suspected to be contaminated have
been idle for more than twenty years, with no apparent
prospect for redevelopment. The economic decline
of the corridor has contributed to the economic
distress of families in the Pilot area. The unemployment
rate is 25 percent in some parts of the corridor, and
two-thirds of the families live below the poverty
level. Medianfamilyincomeisapproximately$8,500.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Puerto Rico Infrastructure
Financing Authority
Date of Announcement:
April 2001
Amount: $100,000
Profile: The Pilot targets three
abandoned industrialfacilities in
the Route 127 industrial corridor
for assessment and eventual
redevelopmentintofacilitiesthat
would supporta newdeep-draft
international port.
Contacts:
Puerto Rico Infrastructure
Financing Authority
(787)763-5757
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 2
(212)637-4314
Visit the E PA Region 2 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/r02earth/superfnd/brownfld/
bfmainpg.htm
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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OBJECTIVES
The Infrastructure Financing Authority's objective is
to develop brownfields into facilities that would
support activities of the port, once it is operational.
As part of this effort, the Pilot plans to inventory and
characterize each parcel along the corridor, complete
a site assessment and prepare a complete profile on
one parcel, andconductcommunity involvement.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Creating an inventory and initial assessment of
each parcel in the corridor;
• Conducting a complete environmental site
assessment and developing a Parcel Profile for one
site (selected from three that have been identified
as priorities in the corridor); and
• Instituting vigorous citizen outreach and
involvement, including formation of a Pilot Proj ect
AdvisoryCommitteethatwouldincludecommunity
members.
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 Puerto Rico Infrastructure Financing Authority
April 2001 EPA500-F-01-285
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