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  Brownfields 2008

  Grant Fact Sheet

      Cambria County

      Redevelopment

         Authority,  PA


EPA Brownfields Program
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, commu-
nities, and other stakeholders 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 this 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. Additionally, funding support is
provided to state and tribal response programs through
a separate mechanism.
Community Description
The Cambria County Redevelopment Authority was
selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant.
Cambria County (population 146,967) is located in the
Allegheny Mountains section of the Appalachian
Plateau. Its major economic forces are manufacturing,
coal mining, and agriculture. In 1950, more than 20,000
people worked in the area's steel mills. When the mills
closed in 1982, about 12,000 jobs were lost.  Today, less
than 3,000 people work in the area's steel-related
industries. The county's poverty and unemployment
 Assessment Grant
 $200,000 for hazardous substances
 EPA has selected the Cambria County Redevelop-
 ment Authority for a brownfields assessment grant.
 Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to
 conduct 10 Phase I and five to 10 Phase II envi-
 ronmental site assessments. Grant funds also will
 be used to conduct health monitoring and support
 community outreach activities.
 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 3 Brownfields Team
 215-814-3129
 http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bfs
 Grant Recipient: Cambria County Redevelopment
 Authority, PA
 814-472-6711
 The information presented in this fact sheet comes
 from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the
 accuracy of this information. The cooperative
 agreement for the grant has not yet been negoti-
 ated. Therefore, activities described in this fact
 sheet are subject to change.
rates exceed the statewide averages. There are about
50 brownfields in the county, the largest of which are
primarily abandoned steel mills. One of these mills in
the City of Johnstown is about 13 miles long. There
also are smaller sites, including abandoned mines and
hospitals, scattered throughout rural areas. Brownfields
assessments are the first step toward reducing poten-
tial risks to public health and the environment and are
expected to help promote economic growth in Cambria
County.
                                                Solid Waste and
                                                Emergency Response
                                                (5105T)
                       EPA560-F-08-213
                       April 2008
                       www.epa.gov/brownfields

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