United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5101) EPA 500-F-00-042 April 2000 www.epa.gov/brownfields/ &EPA BrownfieldsSupplemental Assistance Portland, OR 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 City of Portland supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. Portland was once the state's oldest and largest industrial, shipping, commercial, and urban center. Historically, the waterfrontprovided jobs to low-income and minority citizens in nearby North and Northeast Portland. Today, the manufacturing jobs have shrunk dramatically, leaving higher poverty and unemployment rates in these federally designated Enterprise Community (EC) neighborhoods. The Pilot targets the North/Northeast section of Portland, the part of the city that has the highest number of brownfields in the city and the least amount of resources to engage in cleanup and redevelopment activities. Brownfields in this area are small sites, dispersed throughout residential and commercial nodes. Many of the brownfields remain in private hands, with owners of these properties faced with a choice of losingmoney by cleaning up andredeveloping the property or doing nothing with the property and perhaps losing less money. Suspected contamination and associated liability and cleanup costs have limited PILOT SNAPSHOT Portland, Oregon Date of Announcement: March 2000 Amount: $150,000 Profile: The City of Portland's supplemental assistance targets North/Northeast Portland, the part of the city with the most brownfields and the fewest of resources to address their redevelopment. Contacts: Portland Office of Transportation City of Portland (503)823-7053 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/ ------- reuse of these sites, while pressure to develop new industry and urban homesites on adjacent farm and forest land continues to grow. OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES The city is beginning a development strategy that seeks to combine aggressive business recruitment, job creation, andurbanrevitalization with smart growth management, transportation planning, and environmental protection. The city recognizes that addressing brownfields is critical to realizing these long-term goals. Portland will use the supplemental assistance to support ongoing efforts by the Portland Brownfields Showcase and the North/Northeast Portland Brownfields Showcase Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to facilitate the site identification, prioritization, and assessment of brownfields in the North/Northeast area of Portland that have the greatest potential for redevelopment. The funding will also be used to plan cleanup activities on sites approved by CAC and the Portland Brownfields Showcase. To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to: • Identify three North/Northeast brownfields sites for further investigations; • Collect, review, and analyze existing environmental documentation for selected sites and determine scope for testing and analysis at each site; • Conduct Phase I site assessments at the three targeted sites; and • ConductPhase n site assessments, document results, prepare cleanup cost estimates, and identify cleanup options at the three targeted sites. The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change. Brownfields Supplemental Assistance Portland, Oregon April 2000 EPA 500-F:-00-042 ------- |