United States
                   Environmental
                   Protection Agency
                   Washington, D.C.  20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
  EPA 500-F-00-034
  April 2000
  www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  v>EPA   Brownfields Supplemental
                   Assistance
                                                          Milwaukee,   Wl
 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 Milwaukee supplemental
assistance for its  Brownfields Assessment
DemonstrationPilot. Milwaukee (population 628,000)
will continue to focus its brownfields efforts on the
Menomonee River Valley (population approximately
68,000). This 1,500-acre industrial area lies in the
heart of the city and includes 300 to 400 acres of
abandoned or underused properties. For years the
area was home to many industrial facilities, including
foundries, power plants, coke and coal gasification
plants, tanneries, cement plants, and  chemical
companies. Today, about 7,000 people work in the
valley, from a high in the 1930s of more than 50,000
workers. The residents surrounding the valley are 48
percent minority and suffer from a  13 percent
unemployment rate, a 39 percent poverty rate, and a
medianhousehold income that is half the state average.

The key to cleanup and redevelopment ofMenomonee
Valley is establishing innovative methods of dealing
with groundwater contamination. Extensive marshes
used to occupy the valley, and steep bluffs, some 40
feet higher than the modern land surface, bordered
the marshes. From 1835 to 1890, the bluffs were cut
and graded, and the material from the bluffs, along
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
   Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  Date of Announcement:
  March 2000

  Amount: $150,000

  Profile: The Pilot targets the
  Menomonee River Valley, a
  1,500-acre industrial area in
  the heart of Milwaukee.
Contacts:

City of Milwaukee
Department of City
Development
(414)286-5851
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 5
(312)886-1960
       Visit the EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site at:
         http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/

     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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with household and industrial wastes, were used to fill
in the marshy areas. Prospective investors, lenders,
and developers are wary of the valley's soil and
groundwater quality due to the area's land use history
and the unknown quality of fill used to reclaim it from
a marsh.  Through the initial Pilot progress has been
made to  determine  the  nature and extent  of
groundwater contamination; however, some work
remains to be done.

OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES

The  objectives  of Milwaukee's brownfields
redevelopment program are to remove environmental
barriers related to the wetland nature of Menomonee
Valley and redevelop one to two properties as test
cases, while creating jobs for nearby residents. The
city hopes its area-wide approach to groundwater
investigation and  cleanup will encourage  the
redevelopment ofvalley brownfields. The supplemental
assistance will be used to complete the area-wide
groundwater assessment and characterization, to help
develop area-wide negotiated agreements with the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR),
and to facilitate cleanup and redevelopment in the
valley.

To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:

• Conduct additional groundwater flow monitoring to
  better determine the potential flow of contaminants
  and receptors for potential exposure;

• Continue working with Wisconsin DNR to develop
  or adapt tools that address the area-wide groundwater
  challenges; and

• Develop a chemical samplingplan, obtain permission
  from property  owners for testing,  and conduct
  chemical sampling.
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                                                 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  April 2000                                                                       EPA 500-F-00-034

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