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  Brownfields  2004

  Grant  Fact Sheet

         Waukegan,  IL




EPA Brownfields Program

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communi-
ties, 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
programs through a separate mechanism.

Community Description

The City of Waukegan was selected  to  receive a
brownfields assessment grant. Over the past few
decades, the city has lost much of its manufacturing
base. Waukegan has been designated by the U.S.
Department of Labor as a Labor Surplus Area because
its unemployment rate has been 20 percent higher than
the rest of the nation for two years in a row. Fourteen
percent of Waukegan's 87,969 residents have incomes
below the poverty line. About 45 percent of residents
are Hispanic, and 18 percent are African-American.
The city is an EPA-designated Environmental Justice
Community. The properties targeted for assessment lie
within the Lakefront Redevelopment Zone, which has
a number of abandoned/closed industrial facilities. The
city plans to redevelop these properties for residential
and recreational lakefront uses.
                       Assessment Grant
                       $200,000 for hazardous substances
                       $200,000 for petroleum

                       EPA has selected the City of Waukegan for a
                       brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous sub-
                       stances grant funds will be used to perform a site
                       investigation based on the findings of an earlier
                       expanded site investigation at a 12-acre former
                       scrap yard property. Petroleum grant funds will be
                       used to perform Phase I and Phase II site assess-
                       ments at an 18-acre inactive railroad facility on
                       the Lake Michigan lakefront.
                       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/R5 Brownfields/

                       Grant Recipient: Waukegan, IL
                       847-625-6878

                       The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
                       yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
                       in this fact sheet are subject to change.
                                                  Solid Waste and
                                                  Emergency Response
                                                  (5105T)
                                             EPA 560-F-04-235
                                             June 2004
                                             www.epa.gov/brownfields

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