HI
                          C3
  Brownfields  2004

  Grant Fact Sheet

       Tacoma-Pierce

        County Health

      Department,  WA



EPA Brownfields Program

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, commu-
nities, and other stakeholders in economic development
to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up,
and sustainably reuse brownfields. Abrownfield site is
real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse
of which may be complicated by the  presence or
potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant,
or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, the President
signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields
Law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible
applicants through four competitive grant programs:
assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup
grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding
support is provided to state and tribal response pro-
grams through a separate mechanism.

Community Description

Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department was
selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant.
The target area includes all census tracts in Pierce
County (population 700,820) with five or more former
gas station sites. Centered roughly in south central
Tacoma, this area has a population of 224,484. It
includes about 32 percent of the county's population
and 41 percent of racial or ethnic minorities. Unem-
ployment in the target areas is 11.5 percent, compared
to 7.6 percent in Tacoma, which has the highest
unemployment rate among eight metropolitan Washing-
ton cities. The poverty rate in the target area is 14.8
  Assessment Grant
  $200,000 for petroleum

  EPA has selected Tacoma-Pierce County Health
  Department for a brownfields assessment grant.
  The petroleum grant funds will be used for Phase
  II environmental site assessments on five to
  fifteen petroleum brownfields sites. This will help
  support an advisory board to promote restoration
  and redevelopment of more than 730 former gas
  stations throughout Pierce County, and for
  community involvement activities. A recently
  completed inventory of former gas stations in
  Pierce County indicates that up to 300 require
  further environmental assessment.
  Contacts
  For further information, including specific grant
  contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
  news and events, and publications and links, visit
  the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/
  brownfields.

  EPA Region 10 Brownfields Team
  206-553-2100
  www.epa.gov/rlOearth, click on "Superfund,"
  scroll down to "Related Programs" and click on
  "Brownfields"

  Grant Recipient: Tacoma-Pierce County Health
  Department, WA
  253-798-4784

  The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
  yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
  in this fact sheet are subject to  change.
percent, compared to the county's poverty rate often
percent. Seventy percent of the targeted gas station
sites are within Tacoma, which is a federally desig-
nated Renewal Community.
                                                Solid Waste and
                                                Emergency Response
                                                (5105T)
                        EPA 560-F-04-095
                        June 2004
                        www.epa.gov/brownfields

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