United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response(5101)
EPA500-F-99-129
June 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Augusta, GA
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 City of Augusta for a
Brownfields Pilot. Augusta's population of 205,000 is
the second largest in Georgia; however, many of the
city's residents live in poverty (67 percent). Augusta
is home to a number of industrial factories, many of
which are in the Hyde Park section of town. The
residents of Hyde Park are predominantly African
American with low income levels. In 1984, the
Georgia Department ofNatural Resources determined
that wells in Hyde Park had been contaminated by
many of the industrial factories in the neighborhood.
The Pilot targets the 10.8-acre Goldberg Brothers'
Salvage Yard located at the main entrance to Hyde
Park. Originally the site was used for community
vegetable gardens, but in the past 30 years the site has
operated as a salvage yard. Community complaints
led to an EPA investigation that indicated high levels
of lead and arsenic on-site and the salvage yard was
closed in 1998. The site is situated among residences
and is littered with gas containers, tires, drums and
tanks, vacant storage buildings, and mounds of scrap
metal. The closing of other nearby factories has
increased unemployment, and the area suffers from
crime and drug trafficking, some of which occur on
the site.
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Augusta, Georgia
Contacts:
City of Augusta
(706)821-1831
Dateof Announcement:
June 1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets a
10-acre former salvage yard
in the Hyde Park section of
Augusta.
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 4
(404) 562-8661
Visit the EPA Region 4 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region4/wastepgs/brownfpgs/bf.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/
-------
OBJECTIVES
The City of Augusta has committed to assisting
community efforts to revitalize the Hyde Park
neighborhood, and is now working toward cleaning up
and redeveloping sites within the area. Several city
government offices, the Chamber of Commerce, the
Richmond County Health Department, and local
businesses have agreed to participate in improving the
Hyde Park area in various ways. The city will initiate
these efforts by creating abrownfields redevelopment
authority to oversee the Pilot's assessment, cleanup
planning and outreach activities. The city plans to use
the cleanup and redevelopment of the Goldberg
Salvage Yard site as a model for cleaning up other
brownfields sites in Augusta.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Performing a site assessment at, and developing
cleanup and redevelopment plans for, the Goldberg
Salvage Yard;
• Developing a public participation plan that includes
sponsoring public forums and using local college
students for web-based community-outreach
activities; and
• Performing site investigations and establishing an
inventory of additional brownfields sites in Augusta.
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 Augusta, Georgia
June 1999 EPA500-F-99-129
------- |