UJ
                            o
 Brownfields  2005
  Grant  Fact  Sheet
            Marion, I A
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, President George
W. Bush 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. Addi-
tionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.

Community Description

The City of Marion was selected to receive a
brownfields cleanup grant. Marion (population 26,294)
experienced economic growth and a significant popula-
tion increase throughout the 1990s. However, this
growth occurred on the city's fringes, resulting in
economic and environmental decline in the city's
Central Corridor, the target area. Some manufacturing
in the Central Corridor has relocated to the city's
fringe, while a large salvage facility and a concrete
batching plant remain. There are an estimated 69
unregulated facilities, 45 underground storage tanks,
and 25 leaking underground storage tanks within one
mile of the Central Corridor. In this target area, 17
percent of the population lives below the poverty level,
and neighborhoods include  a higher percentage of low-
   Cleanup Grant
   $200,000 for hazardous substances
  EPA has selected the City of Marion for a
  brownfields cleanup grant. Grant funds will be
  used to conduct cleanup operations and commu-
  nity outreach activities for the Canadian National
  Railroad Company's abandoned alignment site
  located in the Central Corridor Revitalization
  Project area. The site was used as a railroad
  alignment and maintenance facility dating back to
  the 1880s.
   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 7 Brownfields Team
  913-551-7646
  http://www.epa.gov/Region7/citizens/brownfields/
  index.htm
  Grant Recipient: City of Marion, IA
  319-377-1581
  The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
  yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
  in this fact sheet are  subject to change.
income, elderly residents who are vulnerable to the
adverse conditions created by the manufacturing and
industrial land uses. The cleanup site is a former
railway alignment that parallels 6th Avenue. When the
site is cleaned up, the city plans to build a new City
Hall building at the western end of the property.
Cleanup will also improve the living conditions for
adjacent residential areas, attract  private sector
investment and jobs, link community facilities through a
network of parks and trails, and encourage the redevel-
opment of sites within the Central Corridor.
                                                   Solid Waste and
                                                   Emergency Response
                                                   (5105T)
                         EPA 560-F-05-067
                         May 2005
                         www.epa.gov/brownfields

-------