»EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response(5105-T)
EPA560-F-04-258
September 2004
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
United States Environmental Protection Agency
&EPA
The Brownfields Program:
Setting Change in Motion
For more information on the Brownfields Program and its
accomplishments please visit our Web site:
www. epa.gov/brownfielt
Promoting Partnerships
Offic
Undo Gore
EPARegiOi
Region 7....
Region 2
Region 3
Region 4
Region 5
Region 6
Region 7
Region 8
Region 9
Region 10...
Gleam
7, Director
rownfields
evelopment
(202; 566-2777
dmator
(404;
(372;
(274;
(973;
(303;
(475;
(206;
975-7227
637-4374
574-3729
562-5759
556-7576
665-6735
557-7756
372-6503
972-3755
553-2700
Strengthening the Marketplace
A Brownfield 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."
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Former rail property redeveloped in the
Gateway District of Salt Lake City UT
EPA's Brownfields Program 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 property, the expansion,
redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
complicated by the presence or potential
presence of a hazardous substance,
pollutant, or contaminant. EPA's
Brownfields Program provides financial
and technical assistance for brownfields
revitalization, including grants for
environmental assessment, cleanup, and
job training,
The Beginnings of EPA's
Brownfields Program
Since its inception in 1995, EPA's Brownfields
Initiative has grown into a proven, results-
oriented program that has changed the way
contaminated property is perceived, addressed,
and managed. Through passage of the Small
Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act in 2002, effective policy was
turned into law. As it did from its first days, EPA's
Brownfields Program reflects a new model of
environmental stewardship that protects the
environment, promotes partnership, strengthens
the marketplace, and sustains reuse.
Initially, EPA provided small amounts of seed
money to local governments that launched
hundreds of brownfields "pilots" — building
capacity and partnerships at the local level,
while developing innovative approaches to
brownfields issues. In addition to these pilot
projects, EPA tested several other tools during
the early years of the Brownfields Program,
including providing guidance and policy
clarifications on Superfund liability, removing
thousands of properties from its Superfund
Protecting the Environment
Addressing brownfields to ensure the health and well-being
of America's people and environment.
Promoting Partnerships
Collaborating and communicating are essential to
facilitate brownfields cleanup and reuse.
Strengthening the Marketplace
Providing financial and technical assistance
to bolster the private market.
Sustaining Reuse
Redeveloping brownfields to enhance
a community's long-term quality
of life.
Petroleum property in Klamath Falls, OR
targeted by the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality Cleanup Grant
database, providing technical assistance and
resources to enhance state and tribal voluntary
cleanup programs, and promoting partnerships
across the country.
EPA's Brownfields Program has leveraged more
than $6.5 billion in brownfields cleanup and
redevelopment funding and generated nearly
30,000 new jobs, often in economically
disadvantaged areas that needed them most.
More than 4,800 properties have been assessed.
For every acre of reused brownfields an
estimated 4.5 acres of unused green space is
preserved. In addition, nearly 60 Revolving Loan
Fund loans have been awarded to facilitate
brownfields cleanup.
Shipping industry properties along the Tampa, FL
waterfront targeted for revitalization through the
Portfields Initiative
• 11
EPA's Brownfields Program Today
The Brownfields Law provides new tools for fhe public
and private sector to promote sustainable
brownfields cleanup and reuse. Brownfields grants
will continue to serve as the foundation of EPA's
Brownfields Program. In addition to the brownfields
grants summarized below, EPA will continue to test
other innovations.
• Assessment Grants provide funding for
brownfield inventories, planning, environmental
assessments, and community outreach.
• Revolving Loan Fund Grants provide funding to
capitalize loans that are used to clean up
brownfields.
• Cleanup Grants provide direct funding for
cleanup activities.
• Job Training Grants provide environmental
training for residents of brownfields communities.
• Training, Research, and Technical Assistance
Grants fund organizations supporting local and
national brownfields efforts.
• State and Tribal Response Program Grants fund
the establishment or enhancement of state and
tribal response programs.
The law also clarifies CERCLA liability protection for
certain innocent landowners, prospective purchasers,
and contiguous property owners, and enhanced
state and tribal capacity.
A Promising Future
The momentum generated by EPA's brownfields
grants, policies, and technical assistance is building
an enduring legacy far beyond the initial federal
investment.
Across the country, communities once impacted by
brownfields now benefit through local environmental
job training programs. Environmental assessments
conducted through the grant program have
removed contamination and liability uncertainties
from thousands of properties, resulting in billions of
dollars in cleanup and redevelopment funding
leveraged from the private and public sectors. EPA's
Brownfields Program helps reduce hopelessness with
community empowerment and economic
revitalization, and enables disadvantaged
neighborhoods to succeed by providing incentives
and removing obstacles to strengthen the
marketplace and sustain reuse. Under its
" (The Brownfields Revitalization Act is a)
sensible piece of legislation, one that
emphasizes the need for environmental
stewardship all across the country."
— President George W. Bush
January 11,2002
"EPA's Brownfields Program has revolutionized the way
people perceive and manage potentially contaminated
properties."
— Reusing Land, Restoring Hope, A Report to Stakeholders
from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Revitalization Agenda, EPA is instilling the concept of
land stewardship to ensure consideration of the full,
sustainable life-cycle of all properties addressed by
EPA's waste programs.
EPA's Brownfields Program is collaborating with
multiple federal, state, local, and private partners to
take a sector-based approach to brownfields
revitalization. Sector-based initiatives provide a way
to focus collaboratively on common types of
brownfields issues across the country. The sector-
based initiatives include, the Portfields Initiative,
providing financial and technical assistance to three
port communities; the Mine-Scarred Lands Initiative,
delivering technical support to three eastern coal
and three western hard-rock mine reuse projects;
and the Railfields Initiative, identifying unique
obstacles encountered when addressing
underutilized or abandonded railroad properties.
; - , -• /:-/"
Abandoned metal mine in Summit County
CO marked for recreational reuse through
the Mine-Scarred Lands Initiative
Enhancing State
and Tribal Capacity
EPA's Brownfields Program builds and
enhances state and tribal capacity by:
• Providing financial support
• Offering protection from federal
Superfund liability
Forming effective partnerships
For more information on state and tribal issues please
visit http://www.epa,gov/brownfields/state_tribal,htm
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