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Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund
Pilot
Alabama Department of
Environmental Management
BACKGROUND
Alabama's economic base historically has been rooted in
the agricultural, manufacturing, textile, and chemical
production sectors. Many Alabama towns were built
around one primary industrial employer in these sectors.
As aresult of social and economic shifts, many communities
are now saddled with numerous underused and vacant
properties. Many of these properties have real or perceived
contamination that prevents prospective buyers from
cleaning up and redeveloping the properties, particularly
thoselocatedininner cities or very rural areas. Communities
across the state are struggling. Sixteen percent of the
state' s residents live in poverty. Statewide unemployment
is 4.7% with pockets of unemployment in rural areas as
high as 16.5%. Alabamais ranked 42nd nationally for per
capita income.
Alabama Department of Environmental Management
(ADEM) has conducted assessments at nearly 400 sites
across the state, including sites at all six of the Brownfields
Assessment Pilots in the state. While some of the sites
assessed by ADEM have been redeveloped, many remain
unused or underused because of a shortage of cleanup
funding. The Alabama Land Recycling and Economic
Redevelopment Act, passed in May 2001, provides the
framework for instituting a voluntary assessment and
cleanup program by the state. The new voluntary cleanup
program will encourage private investment in the cleanup
and redevelopment of brownfields in the state.
BCRLF OBJECTIVES
ADEM's goal will be to provide short-term financial
solutions for economically challenged brownfields in order
to restore businesses to economically feasible locations,
improve the lives of residents in lower-income or minority
areas, curb urban sprawl, slow greenfields development,
and increase municipal tax bases. Capitalization of a
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
May 2002
Amount: $1,000,000
BCRLF Target Area:
Sites throughout the State of
Alabama
State of Alabama
Contacts:
Alabama Departmentof
Environmental Management
(334)271-7730
Region 4 Brownfields
Coordinator
(404)562-8682
Visit the E PA Region 4 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/Region4/waste/bf/index.htm
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
BCRLF program will allow the state to leverage public,
municipal, and private funds for the cleanup of properties.
ADEM will use the BCRLF funds for loans for non-
time-critical removals at brownfields across the state,
with priority to those areas that demonstrate the greatest
social and economic need. The potential creation of jobs,
potential benefit to the communities, and plans for
sustainable redevelopment also will be taken into
consideration in determining loanrecipients.
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FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management
is the cooperative agreement recipient and will serve as
the lead agency and site manager. A fund manager has not
yet been determined. Potential fund management
mechanisms include establishing an authority through
legislation or designating a nonprofit organization as fund
manager.
LEVERAGING OTHER RESOURCES
ADEM will support efforts by loan recipients to obtain
additional financing for cleanup of brownfields through
Industrial Development Grants, Community Development
Block Grants, Community Redevelopment Grants, and
Small Business Administration Grants. Additionally, those
sites located in Enterprise Zone and Enterprise
Communities may be eligible for federal, state, and local
tax credits.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with CERCLA, and all
CERCLA restrictions on use of funding also apply to BCRL F funds.
Solid Waste EPA 500-F-02-002
and Emergency May 2002
Response (5101) www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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