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Brownfields
Supplemental Assistance
Windham Regional Commission, VT
BACKGROUND
EPA awarded the Windham Regional Commission
supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot. The Windham Region encompasses
27 towns in three counties (population 43,405) in the
southeast corner of Vermont. Mills and manufacturing
industries in the region have closed over the years due to
technological changes and reduced dependance on rail
and water transportation. Many vacant industrial
properties in the region have been on the market for
years due to real or perceived contamination. Low-wage
jobs in service industries have helped fill the unemployment
gap in towns that are struggling to rebuild. One of the
most distressed communities in the region is Bellows
Falls where 14 percent of residents live in poverty.
The original Pilot created an inventory of sites in need of
environmental assessments and established abrownfields
steering committee that evaluated 13 sites nominated for
the program. Sites selected by the steering committee
emphasized downtown areas with low-to moderate-
income residents. Although some site assessments were
conducted, the original Pilot emphasized aggressive
public outreach. The supplemental Pilot will emphasize
site assessments. Supplemental funds will be used to
assess priority brownfields sites and determine whether
they are clean or require cleanup planning. One site that
likely will receive Phase I, II, and III environmental
assessments through the supplemental assistance is the
property surrounding the previously targeted 10-acre
TLR Building site in Bellows Falls. This former paper
manufacturing site is now a hydroelectric power plant
and has strong potential for redevelopment. The
supplemental assistance also will target additional sites
nominated for environmental assessments. A number of
sites nominated for the Pilot are along the Connecticut
River, which is an American Heritage River.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Windham Regional
Commission, Vermont
Date of Announcement:
May 2002
Amount: $150,000
Profile:TheWindham Regional
Commission will conduct
environmental assessments on
high priority sites with the potential
for redevelopment in distressed
towns.
Contacts:
Windham Regional
Commission
(802)257-4547
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 1
(617)918-1424
Visit the E PA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/brownfields/
Forfurtherinformation,includingspecific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
www.epa.gov/brownfields
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
The Windham Regional Commission will use its
supplemental assistance grant to expand the brownfields
program begun under the original Pilot. Funds will be
used primarily for site assessments. However, public
outreach to affected communities, an inventory update,
and ongoing development and implementation of a
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strategy for redeveloping brownfields also will be a
significant part of the project.
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting community outreach and soliciting
community involvement in the ongoing brownfields
program;
• Updating the inventory and database of sites begun
under the original Pilot; and
• Conducting an estimated three Phase I, two Phase II,
and one Phase III environmental assessments at sites
targeted by the steering committee.
ThecooperativeagreementforthisPilothasnotyetbeennegotiated;therefore,
activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Solid Waste EPA 500-F-02-081
and Emergency May 2002
Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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