United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
  Solid Waste
  and Emergency
  Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-064
May 1997
                       Regional  Brownfields
                       Assessment  Pilot
                                                        Pittsburgh,  PA
  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 Region 3 selected the City of Pittsburgh for a
Regional Brownfields Pilot. Pittsburgh is a mature
city that is almost completely developed. Its industrial
base has experienced losses due primarily to the
closing of steel mills and related metals industries.
Many of these sites now lie vacant and abandoned.
The City has noted a lack of interested buyers who are
willing to invest in these properties due to the unknown
extent of environmental hazards and liability and the
costs associated with addressing these problems.

OBJECTIVES

The City of Pittsburgh and the Urban Redevelopment
Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) seek to develop a
process  for conducting timely  and flexible
environmental assessments of contaminated,
abandoned sites that the City hopes to target for
redevelopment. The targeted areas are the industrial
and commercial sites within the City's  Federal
EmpowermentZone, State Enterprise Zone, and other
maj or industrial corridors. The Pilot plans to identify
potential brownfields suitable for redevelopment,
and conduct assessments at targeted sites.
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  Date of Award:
  February 1995

  Amount: $200,000

  Site Profile: The Pilot
  targets two sites—the
  Nine Mile Dump is a 238-
  acre former landfill used
  by the steel industry—the
  Lectromelt facility, a
  former electroplating plant,
  is a six-acre site located
  along the Allegheny River.
Contacts:

Edward Henry
Urban Redevelopment
Authority of Pittsburgh
(412)255-6658
Tom Stolle
U.S. EPA-Region 3
(215)566-3129
stolle.tom@epamail.epa.gov
        Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
        http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Developed an inventory of brownfield sites that
 have development potential and selected two sites
 for assessment; and

• Completed Phase I and II  site assessments at the
 Lectromelt site and Nine Mile Run site.

The Pilot is:

• Evaluating commercial or  industrial market reuse
 options and  potential  to  inform environmental
 response planning;

• Using financial incentives to stimulate site
 assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment;

• Developing site-specific reuse strategies with future
 site  owner(s)/user(s) and relevant government
 regulatory personnel to inform environmental
 response planning;

• Developing a brownfields pilot project performance
 evaluation system;

• Integrating citizen inputthroughoutthe brownfields
 redevelopment process; and

• Developing public/private partnerships through
 capital formation for financing  the assessment,
 cleanup, and redevelopment of brownfields.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the  Pittsburgh Pilot has  been a
catalyst for related activities including the following.

• Through other funding mechanisms, the URA
 secured financing for remediation and infrastructure
 on two sites targeted by the Pilot. The Pennsylvania
 Department  of Community and  Economic
 Development provided funds  for site acquisition
 and infrastructure on the Nine  Mile Run site and
granted the URA $500,000 to complete demolition
of the contaminated abandoned buildings at the
Lectromelt site. The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer
Authority is issuing bonds for water and sewer lines
at the Nine Mile Run site. Plans for the Nine Mile
Run site  also include constructing approximately
1,100-1,200 housing units and 130,000 square feet
of commercial space. The Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection will award the City an
Industrial Site Reuse grant to be used toward the
remediation of the Lectromelt site. The City is still
seeking a purchaser for that site.
 Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot
 May 1997
                         Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
                             EPA 500-F-97-064

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