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 ------- |