5
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Brownfields
Supplemental Assistance
Niagara County, NY
BACKGROUND
EPA awarded Niagara County supplemental assistance
for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot.
Niagara County encompasses 20 municipalities in
northwestern New York. A county wide inventory of sites
that are likely to have environmental contamination found
over 720 potential brownfields. Many of these sites are
vacant or underused industrial sites that are a legacy of the
declining steel, aircraft, chemical, ceramics, and paper
manufacturing that once supported the local economy.
Out-migration and job loss have severely depressed the
local economy. Unemployment and per capita income in
the county are far behind state averages.
During the original Pilot, Niagara County inventoried its
brownfields and identified 31 sites with strong reuse
potential. Phase I and II environmental assessments were
conducted at five of these sites and community interest
and participation in brownfields redevelopment has grown.
Niagara County would like to build on earlier Pilot strategies
that include community participation and education to
further sustainable development and environmental justice
goals around brownfields areas. Supplemental funding will
ensure the long-term maintenance of the brownfields
program and strengthen the collaborative work already
begun under the initial Pilot.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Supplemental funding will be used to conductenvironmental
assessments on three sites. Potential target sites include a
felt factory along Eighteenmile Creek in the Town of
Newfane; a former paper mill on Tonawanda Island;
several sites in the mill district along Eighteenmile Creek
in a low-income community of Lockport; and a few sites
along the Niagara River in the Town of Wheatfield.
Declining industries and unattended environmental
problems have burdened communities with a large number
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Niagara County, New
York
Date of Announcement:
May 2002
Amount: $150,000
P r o f i I e: S u p p I e m e n t a I
assistance will be used to
conductassessments at three
additional sites and continue
implementation of community
involvement plans.
Contacts:
Niagara County Department
of Planning, Development
and Tourism
(716)439-7235
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 2
(212)637-4314
Visit the E PA Region 2 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/brownfields/
Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
www.epa.gov/brownfields
of underused and abandoned industrial sites along
Eighteenmile Creek. The county plans to continue
collaboration with government, property owners, citizens,
and the private sector to clean up and redevelop brownfields
and conduct additional environmental assessments at sites
not previously targeted.
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Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Continuing to work closely with the Bro wnfields Working
Group, municipal governments, and other stakeholders
on brownfields issues with emphasis on environmental
justice and sustainable development;
• Implementing thecommunityinvolvementplandeveloped
during the original Pilot for target areas;
• Conducting Phase I and II environmental assessments
for three additional sites to be determined; and
• Identifying cleanup options and reuse plans for specific
sites.
Thecooperativeagreementforthis Pilot hasnotyetbeen negotiated; therefore,
activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Solid Waste EPA 500-F-02-083
and Emergency May 2002
Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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