United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-060
May 1997
Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Northwest Indiana Cities
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots 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
EPA Region 5 selected the Cities of Gary, East
Chicago, and Hammond in Indiana (known as
Northwest Indiana), in partnership with EPA's
Common Sense Initiative (CSI) Iron and Steel Sector
Brownfields Workgroup, for a Regional Brownfields
Pilot. This Pilot complements ageographic initiative
being conducted by EPA's Region 5 and the Indiana
Department of Environmental Management (IDEM)
to respond to environmental degradation in Northwest
Indiana. Northwest Indiana has been home to heavy
industry forthe last century. Major land use changes
since the 1970s have resulted in downsizing of
industry and creation of numerous brownfields in
prime locations. Since 1980, industrial employment
declined by 35 percent and population decreased by
18 percent. A combined total of 3,875 acres of
abandoned industrial properties exist in Gary, East
Chicago, and Hammond. Potential environmental
liability, vague cleanup guidelines, and lack of
financing are thwarting their reuse while the tax base
shrinks and employment and property values fall.
Working with the CSI Iron and Steel Brownfields
Workgroup, site assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment issues particular to the industry in the
region are being addressed.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Northwest Indiana Cities
Date of Award:
July 1996
Amount: $200,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets brownfields
formerly used in the iron
and steel industries in the
Cities of Gary, Hammond
and East Chicago in
Northwest Indiana.
Contacts:
Kay Nelson
Indiana Department of
Environmental
Management
Northwest Office
(219)881-6712
Ted Smith
U.S. EPA-Region 5
(312)353-6571
smith. edwin@epamail.
epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfieids
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OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the brownfields project are to
identify and remove threats to health and safety, and
restore brownfields impacted by the iron and steel
industry to productive use. The project is dedicated
to the restoration of the economic and environmental
health of the three cities through a broad stakeholder
partnership and extensive community involvement.
The cities have identified three major aims: 1) iden-
tifying and removing threats to the health and safety
of residents caused by environmental degradation at
the brownfields; 2) restoring brownfields to produc-
tive use by appropriate cleanup; and 3) creating
sustainable economic opportunities with new jobs
while protecting the environment.
AND
The Pilot has:
• Selected one brownfields site in each of the three
communities as focal points of the Pilot, with input
from a series of public meetings. These sites are the
West Point Industrial Park in Hammond, American
Steel Foundries in East Chicago, and Gary Machine
in Gary; and
* Publicized Pilot activities in a variety of ways
including: a radio talk-show appearance by Pilot
representatives; an article in Barron 's magazine;
and a cable TV program on the Pilot aired in January
1997.
The Pilot is:
* Coordinating with the EPA Common Sense Initiative
Iron and Steel Sector Brownfields Workgroup and
integrating the "Brownfields Guiding Principles,"
developed by the Workgroup into the Pilots'
activities;
* Conducting site assessments of candidate redevel-
opment properties, and developing remediation plans
and objectives;
• Evaluating existing remediation legal authorities and
their impact on the redevelopment of the sites; and
* Developing a professional resource manual to
promote information about and investment in
brownfields redevelopment in Northwest Indiana.
Experience with the Northwest Indiana Cities Pilot
has been a catalyst for related activities including the
following.
• IDEM has contributed $200,000 to the Pilot to
match EPA's funding.
• Based on the Pilot's community input process for
site selection, the IDEM conducted site assessments
on the American Steel and West Point Sites. IDEM
has indicated that no remediation will be required.
* As a result of the Pilot's mediaefforts, relationships
with a wide array of stakeholders were developed.
Four individuals representing major redevelopment
projects in the areahavc contacted the Pilot requesting
the Pilot's participation and assistance.
Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot
May 1997
Northwest Indiana Cities
EPA 500-F-97-060
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