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  Brownfields  2008

  Grant Fact  Sheet

         Lehigh  Valley

 Economic Development

       Corporation,  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 Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation
(LVEDC) was selected to receive a brownfields
assessment grant. Located in eastern Pennsylvania, the
LVEDC serves Northampton (population 267,066) and
Lehigh (population 312,090) Counties, which include
the major municipalities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and
Easton. These cities have been hard hit over the last 20
years as their steel-making and natural resource-based
economies deteriorated. These cities have higher
unemployment rates, much lower average household
incomes, and significantly higher poverty rates than
 Assessment Grant
 $200,000 for hazardous substances
 EPA has selected the Lehigh Valley Economic
 Development Corporation for a brownfields
 assessment grant. Hazardous substances grant
 funds will be used to update a brownfields inven-
 tory and conduct about seven Phase I and about
 three Phase II environmental site assessments in
 the Lehigh Valley. Grant funds also will be used to
 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: Lehigh Valley Economic
 Development Corporation, PA
 610-266-6852

 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.
their respective counties. They also have larger
minority populations than the counties as a whole. The
economic decline has left a legacy of abandoned and
blighted industrial sites and scarred historic mining
operations. Brownfields assessments are expected to
facilitate the removal of environmental threats and
encourage redevelopment in the valley.
                                                Solid Waste and
                                                Emergency Response
                                                (5105T)
                        EPA 560-F-08-055
                        April 2008
                        www.epa.gov/brownfields

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