Brownfields 2005
Grant Fact Sheet
Ouachita Parish Law
Enforcement District,
Monroe, LA
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 Ouachita Parish Law Enforcement District
(OPLED) was selected to receive a brownfields
cleanup grant. The OPLED provides law enforcement
for the entire parish (population 147,898). Currently, it
operates out of overcrowded space in the parish
courthouse in downtown Monroe, a federally desig-
nated Enterprise Community. This overcrowding is
causing major problems with the efficient delivery of
law enforcement services. Nearly half of Monroe's
53,107 residents live in the cleanup target area. Ninety-
four percent of them are minority. Unemployment and
poverty levels in this community are 48 and 58 percent,
1
Cleanup Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the Ouachita Parish Law
Enforcement District for a brownfields cleanup
grant. Grant funds will be used to remove asbes-
tos and asbestos-contaminated materials and
debris at the abandoned E.A. Conway Hospital in
the City of Monroe. Testing indicates the pres-
ence of asbestos in various applications through-
out the hospital complex.
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 6 Brownfields Team
214-665-6736
http://www.epa.gov/earthlr6/6sf/bfpages/
sfbfhome.htm
Grant Recipient: Ouachita Parish Law Enforce-
ment District, LA
318-325-4313
The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
in this fact sheet are subject to change.
respectively. The site chosen for the new OPLED
headquarters is the abandoned E.A. Conway Hospital,
located in the center of the most blighted and crime-
ridden area of the parish. The property is contaminated
with asbestos and has been extensively vandalized
since it was abandoned in 1988. As a result, the
contamination has spread throughout the complex,
endangering the surrounding neighborhood. Cleanup
and renovation of the old hospital and the presence of
the OPLED will greatly improve the health, safety, and
economic well-being of the area. Other government
agencies are expected to move to the location as
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5105T)
EPA 560-F-05-060
May 2005
www.epa.gov/brownfields
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renovation proceeds. The project is expected to reduce
crime, improve the local environment, provide new
jobs, and stimulate additional economic development in
the area.
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