United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-01-317
April 2001
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
<&EPA Brownfields Supplemental
Assistance
Aberdeen, WA
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 worktogether in atimelymannerto prevent, assess, and safely clean up brownfieldsto promote
their sustainable reuse. Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion
or redevelopment is complicated by real orperceivedenvironmentalcontamination.EPAisfunding: assessment demonstration
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years, with additional funding provided for greenspace), to test
assessment models and facilitate coordinated assessment and cleanup efforts at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels;
and job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities
affected by brownfieldsto facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and preparetraineesforfuture employment intheenvironmental
field; and, a cleanup revolving loan fund program (each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) to provide financial assistance
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 the City of Aberdeen to receive
supplemental assistance for its Brownfields
AssessmentDemonstrationPilotandadditional funding
for assessments of brownfields properties to be used
for greenspace purposes. The city is located about 50
miles east of Olympia on Grays Harbor, which opens
onto the Pacific Ocean. The Greater Aberdeen area,
including the pilot area of Junction City, is home to
approximately 30,000. Once ahub ofthriving fishing
and timber industries, the community is now one ofthe
state's most economically distressed areas due to a
downturn in business. In recent years, this city has
had the fifth lowest median income in the state and
unemployment 20 percent above the state average.
The Pilot targets a 625-acre area along the Chehalis
River that faces the threat of contamination from
years of use as a sawmill, municipal landfill, truck
repair yard, and dredged material disposal area.
Junction City is virtually surrounded by the targeted
area, where previous studies have indicated the
presence of hazardous substances in the soil and
groundwater that pose a potential threat to the
neighborhood and to area fisheries that rely on the
Chehalis River. The target area contains prime
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Aberdeen, Washington
Date of Award: April 2001
Amount: $150,000
Greenspace: $50,000
Profile: The Pilot targets a
625-acre areaalongtheChehalis
Riverthatiscontaminatedfrom
years of use as a sawmill,
municipal landfill, truck repair
yard, and dredged material
disposal area.
Contacts:
City of Aberdeen, Office of Planning
and Economic Development
(360)537-3226
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 10
(206)553-2100
Visit the EPA Region 10 Brownfields web site at:
.http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/cleanup.nsf/webpage/
Brownfields?OpenDocument
For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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properties for commercial and industrial development
and ecologically valuable wetlands with greenspace
potential.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
The city's goal is to encourage reuse of targeted
properties that will meet community needs and
contribute to revitalization of jobs and economic
improvement. Site assessment and community
involvement activities conducted under the original
Pilot raised concerns about subsurface contamination
of the wetlands and identified the need for additional
site characterization in the area with redevelopment
potential. Supplemental assistance will be used to fill
information gaps regarding subsurface contamination,
conduct assessments at newly identified sites, expand
public education efforts to addresses technical and
scientific issues, and develop remediation and
economic improvement plans that are acceptable to
the community and businesses interested in locating in
the area.
The greenspace funding will be used to involve the
community in open space planning, determine whether
contaminants are migrating from the landfill into the
wetlands along the Chehalis River, and develop options
for greenspace development of the wetlands. This
will complement existing efforts to explore options for
social and educational uses of the valuable wetland
area.
The Pilot plans to:
• Expand community outreach efforts to include
education on technical and scientific issues;
• Complete environmental site assessment reports by
addressing issues related to subsurface
contamination and newly identified sites with
redevelopment potential;
• Develop cleanup and economic improvement plans
that are acceptable to the community and businesses
interested in locating in the area; and
• Explore options for greenspace development of the
wetlands along the Chehalis River.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this tact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance
April2001
Aberdeen, Washington
EPA500-F-01-317
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