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  Brownfields  2007

  Grant  Fact Sheet

     New Orleans, LA


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 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 New Orleans was selected to receive a
brownfields revolving loan fund grant. New Orleans
(population 200,000) has long had a high concentra-
tion of families living in poverty. Prior to the mass
migration following the 2005 hurricane season, more
than 25 percent of families lived below the poverty
level. The city also has faced environmental justice
issues for decades, and is both a federally designated
Enterprise and Renewal Community. Many facilities
that pose serious environmental concerns, such as
landfills and incinerators, are located in environmental
justice communities. The city has identified 177
closed service stations and 267 hazardous sites. These
brownfields are interfering with the city's ability to
redevelop after the storms and floods. Cleanup of
brownfields will help renew greenspace along the
                                                                    1
 Revolving Loan Fund
 Grant
                                   'New
,2007,
 $1,000,000 for hazardous substances

 EPA has selected the City of New Orleans for a
 brownfields revolving loan fund grant. The grant
 will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund
 from which the City of New Orleans will provide
 loans and subgrants to support cleanup activities
 for sites contaminated with hazardous substances.
 Grant funds also will be used to support commu-
 nity outreach activities and health monitoring.
 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
 214-665-6780
 http://www.epa.gov/region6/brownfields

 Grant Recipient: City of New Orleans, LA
 504-658-4074

 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.
Mississippi Riverfront and support redevelopment of
the surrounding area, which contains many former
warehouses and industrial sites, for mixed-use devel-
opment.
                                                 Solid Waste and
                                                 Emergency Response
                                                 (5105T)
                        EPA560-F-07-122
                        May 2007
                        www.epa.gov/brownfields

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