United States
                   Environmental
                   Protection Agency
                   Washington, D.C. 20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-040
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  <&EPA   Brownfields Supplemental
                  Assistance
                         Oregon Economic and Community
  	Development  Department
 Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
                   Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic  Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields.  These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach  to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND

EPA awarded the Oregon Economic and Community
Development Department supplemental assistance
for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
and additional funding for assessments at brownfields
properties to be used for greenspace purposes. The
original Pilot developed the Mill Site Conversion
Project, a public/private partnership created to help
return 12 vacant mill sites in rural communities to
productive use. In many of these communities, these
sites represent the only property zoned for industrial
use.  To create new jobs, vacant sites must be
converted into usable, environmentally and financially
viable industrial property. Due to the risk and liability
associated with the sites, the mill properties have
either been abandoned and  condemned  by  the
community for back taxes or "warehoused"  by mill
owners. Many sites contain chemicals, transformers,
and asbestos that are slowly deteriorating and pose a
potential threat to humanhealth, soil, andgroundwater.

OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES

Oregon is working to rehabilitate vacant and abandoned
brownfields sites into productive industrial and
commercial properties and enable  surrounding
communities to recruit, expand, andretainbusinesses.
 PILOT SNAPSHOT
Oregon Economic and Community
   Development Department
  Date of Announcement:
  March 2000

  Amount: $150,000
  Greenspace: $50,000

  Profile:  The Pilot targets
  three sites in rural and
  economically distressed
  communities, including one
  site for greenspace creation.
Contacts:
State of Oregon
Oregon Economic and Community
Development Department
(503)581-5115
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 10
(206)553-2100
     Visit the E PA Region 10 Brownfields web site at:
  http://epainotes1.rtpnc.epa.gov:7777/MO/cleanup.nsf/
             webpage/Brownfields

   For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,
 additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
 publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
          http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

-------
Ultimately, the proj ect aims to bring new and diverse
employment  opportunities to rural, economically
distressed areas in Oregon.

Oregon's strategy includes focusing on the interface
between  community involvement,  site owner
participation, and a combination of state, federal, and
private funding. Using the supplemental assistance,
the Pilot will continue to focus its efforts on two sites
from the original Pilot (Modoc Mill and Avison Mill),
as well as one additional site yet to be determined. It
is anticipated that the Modoc Mill and Avison Mill
sites,  both of which are privately owned,  will be
subdivided into parcels, some to be retained by the
owners and some to be targeted for redevelopment.

The Pilot will use the greenspace funding to conduct
environmental assessments at a  50-acre parcel of
land adjacent to the Avison Mill. This parcel of land
is located along Bear Creek and comprises wetlands
and a riparian habitat. The proposed use for this area
is as a greenspace that includes public trails.

To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:

• Conduct additional Phase n assessments at the
  Modoc Mill;

• Conduct additional studies at the Avison Mill, as
  deemed  necessary by the Oregon Department of
  Environmental Quality;

• Conduct Phase I assessments at a site yet to be
  determined;

• Conduct water testing,  Phase I  assessments, and
  additional studies on the greenspace property;

• Develop a greenspace plan;

• Create a list of vacant mill sites and other potential
  rural brownfields sites in Oregon; and

• Develop selection criteria to facilitate qualitative
  assessment of those brownfields for potential
  redevelopment.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
 brownrieias supplemental Assistanceuregon t conomic ana community
                                                                             Development Department
 April 9nnn	FPA wn-F-nn.n/in

-------