United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-028
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
v>EPA Brownfields Supplemental
Assistance
Lewiston, ME
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 awarded the City of Lewiston supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot. The declining fortunes of the
New England textiles industry has adversely affected
the City of Lewiston (population 39,757). The main
focus of brownfields cleanup and redevelopment in
Lewiston will continue to be the 1.2 million-square-
foot Bates Mill Complex. Historically, the eleven-
building mill complex employed more than 5,000
people and was the state's largest employer. Economic
decline and massive layoffs, however, have resulted
in a large abandoned mill and a barren downtown. In
the community surrounding the mill, unemployment is
16.1 percent, compared to 7.5 percent for the entire
city. The poverty rate in this community is 47.3
percent, while the rate for the city is only 3.9 percent.
Lewiston has been designated as a federal Enterprise
Community.
RevitalizationofLewiston's downtown and waterfront
depends upon returning the Bates Mill Complex to
productive use. Because total renovation is estimated
to cost between $70 and $100 million, the city has
renovated the cleanest and most desirable sections of
the mill first. Signs of the mill's rejuvenation are
beginning to show, with several small businesses
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Lewiston, Maine
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $75,000
Profile: ThePilottargetsthe
1.2 million-square-foot Bates
Mill Complex; in 1950, the
textile mill was responsiblefor
one-third of the nation's
textiles produced.
Contacts:
Development Department
City of Lewiston
(207)784-2951
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 1
(617)918-1209
Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/remed/brnfld/
Forfutther information, including specific Pilotcontacts,
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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operating and hundreds of employees working in two
sections of the complex. Real and perceived
environmental contamination, however, continue to
hamper development of the remaining portions of the
complex. Approximately 30 percent of the mill has
been assessed, with an initial focus on those areas that
will be purchased in the near future. The results of the
initial assessment work indicates that additional time
and resources are needed to produce even greater
results at the complex.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Lewiston' s objective is to use the Bates Mill Complex
as an anchor for downtown cleanup and economic
redevelopment and as a catalyst for community job
creation. Lewiston will use the supplemental
assistance to continue assessments on the existing
Mill Complex and to conduct assessments on adj acent
properties that will become part of the complex in the
near future. The Pilot will focus the assessments on
several specific environmental impacts that were
identified through the initial assessment work.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Conduct a detailed property-wide soil assessment
for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that
present a potential threat to human health during
redevelopment activities;
• Conduct a subsurface assessment to determine the
nature and extent of contamination near Mill 3;
• Conduct assessments on several adj acent properties,
located along Lincoln Street, that are being acquired
as part of the Mill Complex project;
• Develop a comprehensive cleanup design plan;
• Expand the strategic planning and community
involvement efforts and the public information
programs to facilitate cleanup and redevelopment of
the Mill Complex.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance
April 2000
Lewiston, Maine
EPA 500-F-00-028
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