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  Brownfields  2006

  Grant  Fact  Sheet

  Niagara  County,  NY


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

Niagara County was selected to receive a brownfields
assessment grant. Located in western New York,
Niagara County (population 219,846) has experienced
a 9.3 percent decline in its population and the loss of
thousands of manufacturing jobs from 1990 to 2000.
Niagara Falls, the county's largest city and a federally
designated Renewal Community, lost 45 percent of its
residents while the state population grew by 5.5
percent. This decline mirrors the departure of large
employers in the region, including steel, aircraft and
aerospace, chemical, specialty ceramics, and paper
manufacturing businesses. In many cases, the depart-
ing heavy manufacturing companies left behind a
legacy of toxic contamination. There are about 200
petroleum-contaminated brownfields sites scattered
throughout the county. They include old filling sta-
  Assessment Grant
  $200,000 for petroleum

  EPA has selected Niagara County for a
  brownfields assessment grant. Petroleum grant
  funds will be used to coordinate community
  education efforts, complete an inventory of sites,
  enter the data into the county's geographic
  information system, and perform a minimum of
  seven Phase I and three Phase II environmental
  site assessments of sites around the county.
  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 2 Brownfields Team
  212-637-4314
  http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/
  brownfields/

  Grant Recipient: Niagara County, NY
  716-278-8750

  The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
  yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
  in this fact sheet are subject to change.
tions, underground agricultural and industrial storage
tanks, and former industrial sites. Assessment and
eventual cleanup of these brownfields sites will help
protect the health of area residents by reducing exposure
to petroleum hydrocarbons. Redevelopment of these
properties will encourage infill development, discourage
development of greenspace in outlying areas, bring jobs
and revenues back into the county, and reverse the trend
toward out-migration of area residents.
                                                  Solid Waste and
                                                  Emergency Response
                                                  (5105T)
                          EPA 560-F-06-044
                          May 2006
                          www.epa.gov/brownfields

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