United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-01-332
July 2001
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Tulsa, OK
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 selected the City of Tulsa as a Brownfields
Pilot. Located in the northeastern quadrant of
Oklahoma, Tulsais the 43rd largest city in the country
and is continuing to grow. The economic boom of the
late 1970s and early 1980s contributed to rapid
expansion in outlying greenfields and pulled businesses
and residents from the city core, leaving large tracts
of land that may be environmentally contaminated.
Numerous redevelopment efforts adjacent to the
core area have been delayed due to potential
environmental risks. The city faces a shortage of
greenfields within the city limits, and industrial
development must focus on brownfields for future
economic growth.
In March 1996, EPA Region 6 provided the Tulsa
Industrial Authority (TIA) with a list of 85 sites in
Tulsa County that were removed (archived) from
Superfund's Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Information System
(CERCLIS). After researching the status of the
sites, TIA is focusing on 5 of 46 potential brownfields
located primarily in the northwest neighborhoods of
the city. The sites were used for a wide variety of
commercial and industrial activities, including
electroplating, transformer repair, and electrical
equipment and chemical manufacturing. Tulsa plans
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Award: May 1997
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
five potential brownfields
located primarily in northwest
neighborhoods of the city.
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Contacts:
Tulsa Industrial Authority
(918)584-7898
U.S. EPA-Region 6
(214)665-6735
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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to assess the level of contamination, develop cleanup
plans, and spur private redevelopment at these five
properties.
OBJECTIVES
Tulsa's objective is to restore abandoned, idled, or
underused industrial and commercial sites to productive
use and create jobs through a brownfields
redevelopment plan. The Pilot will serve as a
mechanism to empower the community and other
redevelopment stakeholders to work togetherto assess,
safely clean up, sustainably reuse, and prevent future
brownfields.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Developed an atlas of 53 maps showing all of the
potential brownfields sites archived from EPA's
CERCLIS list;
• Developed a Targeted Response Team that
recommended ideas about funding, incentives, and
removing barriers to brownfields redevelopment;
• Implemented a Brownfields Redevelopment
Information Management System/LandView III
database and is using the TIA geographic information
system to target sites for redevelopment;
• Created a brownfields web site
(www.Tulsachamber.com/brownfield.htm),
which contains information on the history and
progress of the Pilot;
• Identified five areas of the city that contain the most
potential brownfields sites and developed site profile
sheets with photographs, ownership, and tax
information; and
• Identified brownfields within North Tulsa that have
the greatest likelihood of being redeveloped with
specific recommendations tied to demographics.
The Pilot is:
• Planning to conduct environmental assessments at
the five targeted sites, and working with eight local
companies and four out-of-state investors interested
in potential brownfields redevelopment;
• Clarifying liability issues by developing a model
redevelopment process that uses provisions of the
Oklahoma Brownfields Voluntary Redevelopment
Act;
• Exploring methods of financing cleanups through
state voluntary cleanup programs, state tax incentive
programs, contributions from responsible parties,
and prospective purchaser agreements; and
• Generating effective public involvement in the
cleanup and redevelopment planning process for
residents living near the targeted sites.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Tulsa Pilot has been a catalyst
for related activities, including the following:
• The Pilot has leveraged $415,000 from public and
private partners, including $58,000 from the owners
of the Flint and Oklahoma Steel Castings sites for
assessments to be partially funded by the Pilot in
1999, $150,000 in Community Development Block
Grant (CDBG) funds from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Developmentto be used forthe
Oklahoma Steel Castings site, and $207,500 from
the owner of the Oklahoma Steel site for future site
demolition and asbestos abatement.
• Upon receiving the CDBG funds, the Oklahoma
Steel Castings site owner offered to donate more
than 11 acres to the TIA, which is expected to save
taxpayers $500,000 in related property acquisition
and legal costs.
• The Pilot's partnership with the Tulsa District Corps
of Engineers leveraged $50,000 from EPA Region
6 to utilize the Corps services on target sites.
• Phase II assessments were completed at two sites
(Oklahoma Steel Castings and Flint Steel Building)
with funding from the site owners. No cleanup is
required on the Flint Steel Building.
• EPA awarded the city a $150,000 supplemental
assistance grant to target 10 additional brownfields
properties.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
July 2001
Tulsa, Oklahoma
EPA 500-F-01-332
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