5
              o
                           T>

  Brownfields  2006

  Grant  Fact Sheet

       Bridgeport,   CT


EPA Brownfields Program

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, commu-
nities, and other stakeholders 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 City of Bridgeport was selected to receive a
brownfields assessment grant and a brownfields
cleanup grant. Located in southern Connecticut along
Long Island Sound, Bridgeport (population 139,529)
has served as a major U.S. industrial  center for more
than 150 years, but many of its industrial sites now are
idled. The city is a federally designated Enterprise
Community that contains at least 200 inventoried
brownfields spread throughout the city, including sites
next to homes, schools, and waterways. At least half of
the city's residents are minorities who live under the
federal poverty level, and the unemployment rate
approaches 25 percent in some neighborhoods. When
brownfields are cleaned up, they will be used as sites
for commercial buildings, recreation, and greenspace.
Brownfields redevelopment will attract local business
Assessment Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City of Bridgeport for a
brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous sub-
stances grant funds will be used to perform four
Phase I, three Phase II, and two additional
environmental site assessments at abandoned and
blighted parcels of land throughout the city.
Funds also will be used for cleanup planning,
community involvement activities, and health
monitoring of residents, including testing for
asthma.
                                   ^New'1
                                   i2006j
Cleanup Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances'

EPA has selected the City of Bridgeport for a
brownfields cleanup grant. Hazardous substances
grant funds will be used to clean up the Producto
Machine site at 990 Housatonic Avenue, which is
contaminated with PCBs, arsenic, polyaromatic
hydrocarbons, copper, and other metals. The 11-
acre property includes two structures constructed
between 1905 and the 1970s, and was the site of
a key industry in Bridgeport's history of machine
milling tools production.
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
617-918-1424
http://www.epa.gov/region01/brownfields/

Grant Recipient: City of Bridgeport, CT
203-335-1562

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-06-001
                        May 2006
                        www.epa.gov/brownfields

-------
developers, protect human health, create jobs, beautify
neighborhoods, increase housing stock, elevate property
values, and generate tax revenues. When the Producto
Machine property is cleaned up, it will be the  site of the
Bridgeport Public Facilities Department.

-------