United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response(5101)
EPA500-F-99-123
June 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Luzerne/Lackawanna Counties, PA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
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 brownfieldstofacilitatecleanupofbrownfieldssites and preparetrainees for future employmentintheenvironmental
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 has selected the Counties of Luzerne and
Lackawanna for a Brownfields Pilot. Luzerne and
Lackawanna Counties (combined population 547,246)
share an industrial past, beginning with the mining of
anthracite coal in the late 1700s and continuing with
the textile and steel industries until the early 1930s,
when these industries began to decline. As the
businesses shut down, the area's economy followed;
the population also fell nearly 30 percent from 1930 to
1970. This decline continues today as urban sprawl
and unplanned growth deplete the region's greenfields
and leave brownfields to blight nearby residential
neighborhoods. The counties, which contain 116
municipalities, have an unemployment rate of
approximately 7 percent.
Recognizing that assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment of brownfields will help spur economic
growth in the area and take pressure off the remaining
greenfields, the state Department of Environmental
Protection and the Pennsylvania Environmental
Council have taken the lead in establishing the
Brownfields Development Opportunities Task Force
for Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties. The task
force complements the state's Keystone Opportunity
Zone (KOZ) program, which provides tax abatement
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Luzerne/Lackawanna Counties,
Pennsylvania
Dateof Announcement:
June 1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
three brownfieldswithin Luzeme
and Lackawanna Counties for
assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment in order to spur
economic development and
protect the area's diminishing
greenfields.
Contacts:
County of Luzerne
Office of Community Development
(570) 824-7214
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 3
(215)814-3129
Visit the EPA Region 3 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/brownfld/hmpage1.htm
For further 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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and preferential state redevelopment funding for
designated areas within the two counties.
OBJECTIVES
The Pilot's objective is to help revitalize the counties'
economies and protect the residents' quality of life by
conducting brownfields assessments on priority sites.
The site assessments will lead to their cleanup and
redevelopment and will serve as models to spur
redevelopment of other area brownfields. The Pilot
will strengthen the task force by adding community
and other stakeholders to its membership. The task
force will then develop and implement a joint county
brownfields redevelopment strategy that will focus on
economic development, including an increased tax
base and the creation of j obs, protection of greenfields,
safeguarding of the public health, and the protection
and improvement of land and water supplies.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Creating a brownfields inventory for inclusion in a
geographic information system (GIS) database;
• Developing criteria for screening and prioritizing
brownfields sites;
• Conducting Phase I and Phase II assessments on
three priority sites;
• Establishing a public outreach program, including
four community workshops to identify brownfields
and educate communities regarding site assessment,
cleanup, and redevelopment activities; and
• Expanding the task force membership to include
land owners, utilities, chambers of commerce and
other business leaders, including financial institutions
and economic development organizations.
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
June 1999
Luzerne/Lackawanna Counties, Pennsylvania
EPA500-F-99-123
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