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Brownfields 2005
Grant Fact Sheet
West Springfield, MA
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, President George
W. Bush 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. Addi-
tionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.
Community Description
The Town of West Springfield was selected to receive
a brownfields cleanup grant. West Springfield (popula-
tion 27,899) is involved in an effort to revitalize the
750-acre Merrick neighborhood. Merrick is the poorest
of the town's neighborhoods, with a large immigrant
population, a poverty rate of 27.6 percent, and a
substandard housing stock. Although Merrick com-
prises less than 15 percent of the town's land area, it is
the location of more than half of West Springfield's
active hazardous waste sites. The Trade Center site,
once a railway repair facility, is now a mostly vacant
industrial condominium complex. Environmental
conditions at the site have led to the abandonment of
units and have deterred remaining business owners
from undertaking any major capital improvements to
Cleanup Grant
120051
$156,560 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the Town of West Springfield
for a brownfields cleanup grant. Grant funds will
be used to address hazardous substances and fuel
oil contamination at the West Springfield Trade
Center, a 5.75-acre site that was home to a major
Boston & Albany Railway Company repair
facility from 1860 to 1959. Remediation activities
will include excavation and removal of soil,
monitoring and sampling of groundwater, and
preparation of documentation including a deed
restriction for a 25,000-square-foot area that
contains soil and groundwater contaminated by a
fuel oil release from an underground storage tank.
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 1 Brownfields Team
617-918-1221
http://www.epa.gov/region01/brownfields/
Grant Recipient: Town of West Springfield, MA
413-263-3045
The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
in this fact sheet are subject to change.
their units. Cleanup of the Trade Center site is ex-
pected to facilitate the redevelopment of this
underutilized property, transform a blight in the neigh-
borhood, induce existing owners to invest and expand,
spur the creation of jobs, generate tax revenues, and
stimulate other redevelopment efforts in the area.
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5105T)
EPA560-F-05-019
May 2005
www.epa.gov/brownfields
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