United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-01-039
June 2001
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Austin, TX
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 selectedthe City of Austin (population465,622)
for a Brownfields Pilot. This Pilot grant assisted the
Austin Brownfields Program (ABP) in launching the
Austin Brownfields Initiative. Much of Austin's
industrial operations have historically been
concentrated in the eastern part of the city. In 1992,
the city conducted a study to identify old landfills in
and around Austin and to determine if any public
health and safety issues were associated with them.
Of 26 old landfills and dump sites inspected, 20 were
located in east Austin. New service-oriented and
high-tech businesses are being developed in the rapidly
expanding northern and southern portions of Austin.
Many of the properties in east Austin are passed over
in this era of expansion and development due in part
to perceived or real contamination at these properties
resulting from past industrial practices. As a result,
east Austin has disproportionately greater
unemployment and fewer new job opportunities than
the rest of the city. Brownfields cleanup and
redevelopment is an essential component of the city's
Sustainable Community Initiative. The initiative
represents Austin's commitmentto fostering economic,
social, and environmental practices that create a
sustainable community.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Award: September 1998
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets three
former landfills in east Austin—
Brinkley-Anderson, Grove, and
Turner.
Austin, Texas
Contacts:
City of Austin
(512)499-1954
U.S. EPA-Region 6
(214)665-6736
Visit the EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/bfpages/sfbfhome.htm
Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brown fields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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The Pilot will target three landfills in east Austin—
Brinkley-Anderson, Grove, and Turner. The
communities surrounding these targeted areas are
experiencing poverty rates which range from 18 to 30
percent and an unemployment rate that is 3 percent
higherthan the city as a whole. The minority population
in these areas is approximately 72 percent.
OBJECTIVES
The ABP has five objectives: (1) to enhance citizen
awareness of brownfields and other environmental
issues; (2) to facilitate and encourage citizens to take
a more active role in efforts that impact the
environmental well-being oftheir communities; (3)to
strengthen lines of communication and working
relations between citizens and the city; (4) to create
a cooperative approach to addressing brownfields
redevelopment and other environmental concerns;
and (5) to accelerate the assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment of brownfields.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Completed Phase I assessments at the Grove,
Brinkley-Anderson, and Turner sites;
• Produced and distributed the quarterly ABP
newsletter entitled "Brownfields Broadcast" to
residents living in neighborhoods surrounding the
targeted brownfields;
• Hosted and participated in at least eight public
forums and neighborhood meetings to provide
information about future redevelopment activities at
the targeted sites;
• Developed an ABP web site to serve as an
information resource about Pilot activities; and
• Completed a Phase II environmental site assessment
on the Turner site.
The Pilot is:
• Developing a communication network within the
community to help foster a long-term plan for
brownfields redevelopment in the city;
• Working with the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission and the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers to leverage financial support for site
assessment and to develop brownfields action plans
for site cleanup and reuse; and
• Working with the city's Planning Department to
identify and link smartgrowth potential to the ABP.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Austin Pilot has been a catalyst
for related activities, including the following:
• The City of Austin was awarded an additional
$500,000 grant under EPA's Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot program in September
1999.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
June 2001
Austin, Texas
EPA 500-F-01-039
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