United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-029
May 1997
National Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Portland, OR
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots 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 selected the City of Portland for a Brownfields
Pilot. As the State's oldest and largest industrial,
shipping, and commercial center, Portland has a high
concentration of abandoned or under-used properties
surrounding the City' s Enterprise Community where
unemployment is 10.4% and the poverty rate is 35%.
The threat of contamination and liability has limited
reuse and redevelopment atthese sites while suburban
sprawl continues. The City estimates that 484 sites
have confirmed contamination and over 600 sites
have suspected contamination.
OBJECTIVES
The Portland Pilot is working to encourage economic
growth and redevelopment at specific sites within the
Enterprise Community and along the waterfront while
protecting the environment, especially the Willamette
River. Redevelopment of the urban waterfront will
promote productive land use, reduce air and water
pollution associated with urban sprawl, and expand
job opportunities in locations accessible to low-
income populations. To satisfy these objectives,
environmental site assessments must be conducted
and incentives and disincentives identified and evalu-
ated for redevelopment.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Portland, Oregon
Date of Award: March
1996
Amount: $200,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets several hundred
abandoned or underused
sites with varied levels of
contamination, located
within Portland's
Enterprise Community and
along the waterfront.
Contacts:
Douglas MacCourt
Office of Transportation
Portland, OR
(503) 823-7052
Lori Cohen
U.S. EPA-Region 10
(206)
cohen.lori@epamail.epa.gov
Chip Humphrey
U.S. EPA-Region 10,
Oregon Operations
(503) 326-2678
humphrey.chip®
epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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AND
The Pilot has:
* Held a scries of five workshops in Portland's two
target communities to identify barriers, opportunities,
and potential solutions to redeveloping brownfields.
Issues and strategies identified in the workshops are
being incorporated into "Brownfields Action Plans."
which include strategies for creating public-private
partnerships, developing new funding sources, and
streamlining cleanup; and
• Developed "Brownfields Online,"' a user-friendly
World Wide Web site. The site is available on the
Internet at http://www.brownfield.org. The site
provides access to all working documents related to
the Portland project, including meeting schedules
and fact sheets, and features links to other Pilot
cities, EPA and other brownfield homepages.
The Pilot is:
* Co-sponsoring a series of advanced brownfields
seminars to focus on the latest developments in
cleaning up contaminated properties and returning
the properties to productive use. Presentations will
include financing and funding, lender liability,
cleanup strategics, land use and growth manage-
ment, and case studies of successful local and na-
tional projects;
* Crafting neighborhood-specific partnership agree-
ments for assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment
activities;
* Conducting education and information exchange on
brownfields issues to inform and involve citizens;
and
* Creating outreach opportunities for schools and
civic associations to raise awareness and promote
redevelopment.
Experience with the Portland Pilot has been a catalyst
for related activities including the following.
• Focusing brownfields efforts and resources on sites
within the Enterprise Community.
National Brownfields Assessment Pilot Portland, Oregon
May 1997 EPA 500-F-97-029
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