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  Brownfields  2004

  Grant Fact  Sheet

            Wisconsin


 Department of Natural

           Resources



EPA Brownfields Program

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, commu-
nities, and other stakeholders in economic development
to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up,
and sustainably reuse brownfields. Abrownfield site is
real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse
of which may be complicated by the presence or
potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant,
or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, the President
signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields
Law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible
applicants through four competitive grant programs:
assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup
grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding
support is provided to state and tribal response pro-
grams through a separate mechanism.

Community Description

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was
selected to receive a brownfields revolving loan fund
grant. Wisconsin (population 5,363,676), a predomi-
nantly rural state, has only three cities where the
population exceeds 100,000. The state's population is
11.3 percent minority, and approximately 12.2 percent
of the state's families with children under five years of
age live in poverty. Over the last two decades of the
20th century, Wisconsin lost one-third of its wage and
salary worker base. Between 1993 to 2003, there were
                      Revolving Loan Fund
                      Grant
                      $3,000,000 for hazardous substances
                      $1,000,000 for petroleum

                      EPA has selected the Wisconsin Department of
                      Natural Resources for a brownfields revolving
                      loan fund grant. The grant will be used to capital-
                      ize a revolving loan fund, from which the depart-
                      ment will provide loans and subgrants to communi-
                      ties and tribes within the state to support cleanup
                      activities for sites contaminated with hazardous
                      substances and petroleum. The grant will provide
                      funding for the cleanup of 12 to 20 brownfields
                      over the next two to five years.
                      Contacts
                      For further information, including specific grant
                      contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
                      news and events, and publications and links, visit
                      the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/
                      brownfields.

                      EPA Region 5 Brownfields Team
                      312-886-7576
                      http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/

                      Grant Recipient: Wisconsin Department of Natural
                      Resources
                      608-267-6713

                      The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
                      yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
                      in this fact sheet are subject to change.
                    more than 1,200 significant plant closings in Wisconsin.
                    This industrial legacy left the state with PCB advisories
                    for 49 surface water bodies and a state-wide mercury
                    advisory. The revolving loan funds will be directed
                    toward greenspace projects and to jumpstart private
                    investment in economic development projects, espe-
                    cially in high unemployment areas and along the
                    waterfronts.
                                                Solid Waste and
                                                Emergency Response
                                                (5105T)
                                           EPA 560-F-04-224
                                           June 2004
                                           www.epa.gov/brownfields

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