HI
                            C3
  Brownfields  2004

  Grant Fact Sheet

  Schenectady County,

                    NY



EPA Brownfields Program

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communi-
ties, 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
programs through a separate mechanism.

Community Description

Schenectady County was selected to receive a
brownfields assessment grant. Schenectady County
(population 146,555) is located approximately ten miles
northwest of Albany. With the completion of the Erie
Canal in 1823, the county, centrally positioned along a
major transportation corridor, attracted significant indus-
trial development. From the 1960s on, with the closure
and downsizing of the region's industrial base, the retail
and transportation industries declined in the county, as did
its population. From 1982 to 2000, employment in the
manufacturing industries in the county  decreased by
approximately 50 percent. The decline  in the economy has
produced a poverty rate of almost 11 percent. The City of
Schenectady is a federally designated Renewal Commu-
nity and part of a Capital Region Enterprise Community.
  Assessment Grant
   $200,000 for hazardous substances
   $150,000 for petroleum

   EPA has selected Schenectady County for a
   brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substances
   grant funds will be used to refine and prioritize an
   inventory of brownfields sites that is currently being
   assembled, and perform ten Phase I site assessments
   and approximately six Phase II site assessments for
   sites in the 92-square-mile area that corresponds to the
   boundaries of the Great Flats Aquifer. Petroleum grant
   funds will be used to perform at least ten Phase I site
   assessments and five Phase II site assessments at
   sites with potential petroleum contamination. Funds
   will also be used to form a brownfields task force, and
   encourage community participation.
   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 2 Brownfields Team
  212-637-4314
  http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/
  brownfields/

  Grant Recipient: Schenectady County, NY
  518-386-2225

  The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
  yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
  in this fact sheet are subject to change.
The numerous abandoned and underutilized parcels
associated with the region's industrial heritage not only
impose economic hardship on the county, but also contrib-
ute to crime and a decrease in the quality of life. Assess-
ment and redevelopment of the region's brownfields sites
are expected to facilitate economic recovery, improve
the quality of life through recreational reuse of some of
the sites, and protect the area's sole source aquifer.
                                                   Solid Waste and
                                                   Emergency Response
                                                   (5105T)
                         EPA560-F-04-196
                         June 2004
                         www.epa.gov/brownfields

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