United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5101) EPA500-F-00-145 May 2000 www.epa.gov/brownfields/ <>EPA Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot Coalition: The State of Oregon, City of Coos Bay, and Tri-County Metro Transit District 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 work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds to make loans 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 The Oregon Economic and Community Development Department (OECDD) BCRLF is a coalition of the State of Oregon, the City of Coos Bay, and the Tri- County Metro Transit District (Tri-Met). Many Oregon communities are dependent on timber harvest operations that have been scaled back dramatically. Several of these communities encompass former mill sites with redevelopment barriers. The State now has a 13 percent poverty rate. Coos Bay, in particular, has recently fallen on hard times as timber, fishing, and mining resource industries have declined. It has a poverty rate of 17 percent. The Tri-Met area (in the north/northeast sections of Portland) includes portions of seven neighborhoods and has a combined poverty rate of 21 percent. EPA has awarded four Brownfield Assessment Pilots in Oregon as well as one Showcase Community. BCRLF OBJECTIVES The goal of the OECDD BCRLF is to promote brownfield redevelopment throughout the State and to create a program that will be competitive with commercial sources. Targeted communities include those that are economically distressed, have a high PILOT SNAPSHOT Date of Announcement: May 2000 Amount: $1,500,000 BCRLF Target Area: Communities in State of Oregon, Coos Bay, and Tri-Met Coalition: The State of Oregon, City of Coos Bay, and Tri-County Metro Transit District Contacts: State of Oregon Economic and Community Development Department (503)986-0102 Region 10 BCRLF Coordinator (206) 553-6523 Visit the EPA Region 10 Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/region10/waste/brown/index.htm 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 ------- percentage of disadvantaged populations, or have environmental justice concerns. FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS The Oregon Economic and Community Development Department will serve as lead agency and fund manager. The State Department of Environmental Quality will serve as site manager. One-third of the coalition funding will be available for loans for cleanup of brownfields that have been assessed and need cleanup anywhere in the State. The remainder of the funding will be evenly divided between Coos Bay and Tri-Met for brownfields cleanups. It is estimated that four BCRLF loans will be made annually and loan sizes will range between $50,000 and $200,000. LEVERAGING OTHER RESOURCES The State intends to coordinate the BCRLF with other State and Federal funding programs to ensure funds from any program having the potential as a brownfields redevelopment source are used efficiently and conserved appropriately. The BCRLF program also will be used in concert with a newly established state program that makes loans available for brownfields assessment work. Other funding sources include the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program. A BCRLF award could provide the impetus for Oregon's brownfields program to incorporate the Federal income tax credit program into its overall funding assistance efforts. The OECDD will provide additional contributions to the BCRLF in the form of personnel. Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of funding also apply to BCRLF funds. Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot State of Oregon May 2000 EPA 500-F-00-145 ------- |