United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-126
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
\>EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Union County, NJ
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative 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 site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA has selected Union County for a Brownfields
Pilot. Union County is located in northeast New
Jersey, and while it is the second smallest county in
the state, it is also the sixth most populous with nearly
one-half million residents. Overthe lastfour decades,
rising energy and labor costs and inflationary increases
led manufacturers to move overseas and to other
parts ofthe country. The resultwasthe closure of key
rail facilities and manufacturing operations, which
have, in turn, become brownfields sites. These
brownfields (an estimated 78) are particularly
concentrated along the Raritan Valley Line—a cross-
county rail corridor running through nine communities
and connecting the county's eastern and western
borders. Additionally, while the country's booming
economy has generated 11 million new jobs, Union
County has lost 34,000 jobs.
The Pilot will target the communities of Plainfield and
Hillside, both state Urban Enterprise Zones where the
poverty levels are 12.2 percent and 6 percent and
unemployments 9percentand 6.6percent, respectively.
Approximately 60percentofthe communities' residents
are minority. The Pilot is a key element ofthe county's
Overall Economic Development Plan—a federal
designation from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Union County, NJ
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot plans to
conduct environmental
assessmenteonsix brownfields
along the Raritan Valley Line in
the cities of Plainfield and
Hillsideto facilitate theircleanup
and redevelopment.
Contacts:
Union County, Department
of Economic Development
(908)527-4200
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 2
(212)637-4314
Visit the EPA Region 2 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/r02earth/superfnd/brownfld/bfmainpg.htm
Forfurtherinformation,including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields newsandevente.and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Union County Pilot is to establish a
public/private partnership guided by a Brownfields
Community Advisory Committee and a Coordinating
Committee that works to facilitate the redevelopment
ofbrownfields sitesto revitalize the county'seconomy.
The Pilotwill focus on assessing 6 ofthe 33 brownfields
in the communities of Hillside and Plainfield.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting an area-wide environmental
characterization of Raritan Valley Line brownfields;
• Prioritizing brownfields sites for assessment;
• Performing environmental assessments on six sites—
three in Hillside and three in Plainfield;
• Convening the Brownfields Community Advisory
Committee to maximize community input to the
entire redevelopment process;
• Forming a Coordinating Committee to oversee
Pilot activities;
• Establishing a community-driven environmental
justice plan as a part of a larger community
involvement plan; and
• Developing a cleanup plan.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Union County, NJ
May2000 EPA 500-F-00-126
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