United States
                  Environmental
                  Protection Agency
                  Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
  EPA 500-F-00-035
  April 2000
  www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  <&EPA  Brownfields Supplemental
                  Assistance
                                     Montachusett Regional
                              Planning Commission, MA
  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 Montachusett Regional Planning
Commission (MRPC) supplemental assistance for its
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. The
MRPC encompasses 22 communities with a total
population of 223,86 5 in north-central Massachusetts.
High concentrations of manufacturing industries in
some cities as well as vast expanses of undeveloped
towns characterize the MRPC.

Wood, paper, and textile industries in the region have
been in decline since the early 1980s, creating  a
patchwork of brownfields across the region. Today,
numerous abandoned and underused red-brick mills
sit along rivers and in central business districts. The
impact of brownfields has been greatest on the low-
andmoderate-income andminority residents who live
in the neighborhoods immediately adjacent to the
problem sites. Since 1989,unemploymentratesinthe
region have been consistently higher than state and
national levels.
 PILOT  SNAPSHOT
  Montachusett Regional
  Planning Commission,
    Massachusetts
 Date of Announcement:
 March 2000

 Amount: $150,000

 Profile: The Pilot targets at
 least six priority brownf ieldsfor
 assessment, including at least
 one brownfield that is qualified
 for greenspace purposes.
Contacts:

Montachusett Regional
Planning Commission
(978)348-0646
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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OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES

The MontachusettRegionBrownfieldReuse Initiative
(MRBRI),  created through  the  initial Pilot, was
established to develop and implement a reuse plan for
high-priority brownfields.  The overall  MRBRI
combines the region's  comprehensive economic
development strategy to reuse brownfields with a
developing regional policy to mitigate sprawl into the
region's rural fabric. With the supplemental assistance,
the MRPC will expand on the theme of returning s ites
to active industrial and commercial reuse to include
developing affordable housing and creating more
greenspace.

To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:

• Update  the  Massachusetts Department  of
  Environmental Protection database of brownfields
  in the Montachusett region, continuing use of the
  MRPC's  geographic information system (GIS)
  central database;

• Selectpriority brownfields for further investigation;

• Conduct Phase I environmental assessments on at
  least five non-greenspace brownfields;

• Conduct Phase II environmental assessments at
  two of these brownfields;

• Conduct Phase n environmental assessments on at
  least one  brownfield qualified for  greenspace
  purposes; and

• Conduct stakeholder involvement related to these
  activities.
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                  Montachusett Regional Planning Commission, Massachusetts
  April 2000                                                                       EPA 500-F-00-035

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