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  Brownfields  2006

  Grant Fact Sheet

       Massachusetts

 Highway Department,

    Northampton,  MA


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 Massachusetts Highway Department was selected
to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. Located along
the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts,
Northampton (population 28,978) is the county seat
for primarily rural Hampshire County. It is a city
challenged with underemployment and low wages
rather than unemployment. Fifty-one percent of
households in Northampton are considered economi-
cally distressed. The average wage is 59 percent of the
state's average. Northampton is home to numerous
identified and suspected brownfields sites. The
  Cleanup Grant
  $200,000 for petroleum

  EPA has selected the Massachusetts Highway
  Department for a brownfields cleanup grant.
  Petroleum grant funds will be used to clean up a
  gasoline plume at the Staab's Service Station site,
  a former gas station located along Pleasant Street
  in Northampton. In 1988, more than 12 inches of
  free-phase gasoline was detected floating on
  groundwater under the Pleasant Street roadway.
  Grant funds also will be used to conduct commu-
  nity outreach activities.
  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: Massachusetts Highway Depart-
  ment, MA
  413-582-0507

  The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
  yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
  in this fact sheet are subject to change.
proposed cleanup site, the former Staab's Service
Station, is in a mixed-use commercial and residential
neighborhood along the southern gateway to the city,
where 68 percent of households are economically
distressed. There are three low-income subsidized
housing complexes within 1,000 feet of the site. The
historic Mill River channel, a flowing stream, is a
sensitive receptor within 400 feet of the site. Petroleum
contamination from this site continues to migrate onto
adjacent privately owned parcels, as well as impacting
the viability of existing businesses, depressing property
                                                Solid Waste and
                                                Emergency Response
                                                (5105T)
                         EPA560-F-06-010
                         May 2006
                         www.epa.gov/brownfields

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values, and inhibiting revitalization and new develop-
ment along the corridor. Cleanup of the site will help
eliminate the potential threat from gasoline vapors and
enhance the Mill River and other private cleanup
efforts in the neighborhood. Brownfields redevelop-
ment is expected to help increase the viability of
existing businesses, increase property values, and
create new jobs in this distressed community.

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