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Brownfields Federal
Partnership Action Agenda
November 2002
THE BROWNFIELDS FEDERAL PARTNERSHIP
ACTION AGENDA
On January 11, 2002 President Bush signed the Small
Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization
Act into law (Public Law 107-118). The President and the
U.S. Congress recognized in this new law the importance of
federal partnerships in achieving the mutual goals of
environmental protection and economic revitalization. The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its
partnering agencies under the Bush Administration confirm
their commitment to work together by developing the
Brownfields Federal Partnership Action Agenda. The
Brownfields Federal Partnership Action Agenda
represents the focused efforts of over twenty federal
agencies, making over one hundred commitments to work
together in a timely manner to help communities more
effectively prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably
reuse brownfields. Highlights of these commitments include:
» EPA's commitment to provide potentially $850 million
over the next five years to states, tribes, counties,
municipalities, and non-profit organizations through
brownfields assessment, cleanup, revolving loanfundjob
training, and state/tribal grants;
» Commitments by the U.S. Economic Development
Administration, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S.
Department of Justice, and U.S. Department of Labor to
offer funding priority to brownfields communities through
their respective grant mechanisms;
» The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration' s
commitment to lead an interagency "Portfields" project
that will focus on the redevelopment and reuse of
brownfields in and around ports, harbors, and marine
transportation hubs; and
» The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' commitment to
announce eight new pilots under its "Urban Rivers
Initiative" to address restoration in and around urban
rivers.
Communities with brownfields often face economic and
social concerns, such as unemployment, substandardhousing,
outdated or faulty public infrastructure, crime, and a poorly
skilled local workforce. Although federal and state programs
may be in place to address these issues, too often the
programs operate in isolation. The collaboration of diverse
expertise and experience of each agency in theBrownfields
PARTICIPATING
FEDERALPARTNERS:
* Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry
* Appalachian Regional
Commission
* Bureau of Land Management
* U.S. Economic Development
Administration
* Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation
* Federal Housing Finance
Board
* National Institute of
Environmental Health
Sciences
* National Oceanic and
Atmospheric
Administration
* National Park Service
* U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers
U.S. Departmentof
Agriculture
U.S. Departmentof Defense
U.S. Departmentof Energy
U.S. Departmentof Housing
and Urban Development
U.S. Departmentof the
Interior, Office of Surface
Mining
U.S. Departmentof Justice
U.S. Departmentof Labor
U.S. Departmentof
Transportation
U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency
U.S. General Services
Administration
U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Small Business
Administration
Toobtainacopy of the full list of commitments in the
Brownfields FederalPartnership Action Agenda,
gotowww.epa.gov/brownfields
For further information on this/lcfon/lgenafaortrie
Brownfields Federal Partnership, please contact
Tony Raia at (202) 566-2758 or via email at
raia.anthony@epa.gov
Federal Partnership Action Agenda will help make all
relevant federal programs work more productively for the
people andcommunitiesaffectedby the presence of brownfields.
BACKGROUND
EPA's Brownfields Program is designed to empower states,
communities, and other stakeholders to work together in a timely
mannerto prevent, assess, safely cleanup, and sustainably reuse
brownfields.
EPA established an Interagency Working Group on Brownfields
in July 1996 that included more than twenty federal departments
and agencies. The Working Group began drafting a national
plan that would guide future work on brownfields. The result
of this effort was the first Brownfields Action Agenda that
was announced in 1997.
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response
(5105T)
EPA 500-F-02-151
November 2002
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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