HI
C3
Brownfields 2004
Grant Fact Sheet
Nashua Regional
Planning Commission,
Southern New
Hampshire
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
The Nashua Regional Planning Commission was
selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant.
The region had one of the largest textile mill operations
in New England during the mid 1800s, and benefitted
from the growth in high-tech jobs in the late Twentieth
Century. With the decline of the high-tech industry
nationwide, the region's economy has slumped over the
past several years. With a population of 197,000, the
region's unemployment rate shot up from 3.5 percent in
2000 to 6.6 percent in August 2003, significantly
Assessment Grant
$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the Nashua Regional Planning
Commission (NRPC) for a brownfields assess-
ment grant. Grant funds will be used to identify
and characterize known or potential petroleum-
contaminated brownfields and enter them into
NRPC's Geographical Information System (GIS).
The assessments will focus on sites that affect
drinking water supplies, urbanized areas, and
schools. Fifteen Phase I environmental assess-
ments will be completed, and phase II assessments
will be conducted on a subset of those sites. A
portion of the funds will be used to support a
community advisory board to oversee the inventory
process and establish criteria for ranking the sites.
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 1 Brownfields Team
617-918-1221
http://www.epa.gov/region01/brownfields/
Grant Recipient: Nashua Regional Planning
Commission, NH
603-883-0366
The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
in this fact sheet are subject to change.
higher than state and national averages. Some of the
communities within the region have the highest poverty
rates in New Hampshire, ranging from 13.7 to 27.4
percent. A key issue facing the region is development
within the Pennichuck Brook Watershed, which
provides drinking water to the City of Nashua and 20
other towns in New Hampshire.
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5105T)
EPA560-F-04-156
June 2004
www.epa.gov/brownfields
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