United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response(5101)
EPA 500-F-99-047
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
New Orleans, LA
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. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
upto $200,000 overtwo 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 brownfieldstofacilitatecleanupofbrownfieldssites and preparetrainees for future employmentintheenvironmental
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
As a result of a shift from a port and oil service-based
economy to a tourism-based economy, the City of
New Orleans ranks second among the nation's 25
largest cities with the highest poverty rate. Roughly
one-third of the city's population lives at or beneath
the poverty level. In the past, wages in high-income
industrial jobs in the oil and gas fields supported the
port and shipbuilding operations. However, these j obs
have given way to jobs paying only slightly above
minimum wage.
New Orleans also has many environmental problems
that hamper economic development. Multiple rail
lines, wharves, and highways transect low-income
areas in New Orleans. Abandoned warehouses,
processing facilities, and transfer stations leave nearby
residents to contend with soil and water pollution and
general blight. These polluted sites deter future
economic development and detract from the
neighborhoods' quality of life.
BCRLFOBJECTIVES
The BCRLF Pilot will be an important part of the
city's rebuilding campaign—Rebuild New Orleans.
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Date of Award:
September 1997
Amount: $350,000
BCRLF Target Area :
Brownfields sites identified
by the city's Brownfields
Consortium.
New Orleans, Louisiana
Contacts:
Mayor's Office of
Environmental Affairs
(504)565-8115
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA- Region 6
(214) 665-6736
Visit the EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/bfpages/sfbfhome.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/
-------
The goal of the project is to properly clean up and
revitalize the city's priority brownfields sites identified
by the city's Brownfields Consortium. Through the
Pilot program and other city-wide efforts, New Orleans
plans to create healthy, safe, and sustainable
communities through public/private partnerships and
community participation in all brownfields cleanup
and revitalization activities. The Pilot will achieve its
goals by providing gap financing mechanisms for
cleanup. The absence of such financing currently
prevents the city from fully addressing the brownfields
sites that negatively impact the environment, public
health, and economic growth.
FUNDSTRUCTUREANDOPERATIONS
The BCRLF will be used as a "master plan" for
initiating and implementing site cleanup and
certification activities. Eighty to eighty-five percent
of the revolving loan fund will be used for cleanup and
certification activities at priority sites. The remaining
funds will be set aside to cover the costs of
administering the BCRLF. To apply, potential
borrowers will need to submit financial plans that
include the applicant's capability to repay the loan,
demonstration of equity and collateral, financial
statements for the three to five previous years, a
business plan, and the projected cash flow.
The city, through the Mayor's Office of Environmental
Affairs (OEA), will supervise implementation of the
BCRLF. OEA will partner with other city agencies
to ensure that environmental cleanups conducted
using BCRLF Pilot funds are conducted in
conformance with the cooperative agreement with
EPA, and with federal and state requirements.
LEVERAGINGOTHERRESOURCES
To help the borrowers with revitalization plans, OEA
has partnered with the Louisiana Office of Public
Health's Section of Environmental Epidemiology and
Toxicology (SEET). SEET will provide health
consultations for priority brownfields sites of public
health concern. Health consultations provide advice
and recommendations on specific, health-related
questions associated with actual or potential human
exposure to hazardous substances. Further, the city
has available various loan programs, financing
resources, tax incentives, and tax credits to assist new
and existing businesses (e.g., Neighborhood
Commercial Revitalization Programloans and services,
federal Enterprise Community bonds and loans,
Restoration Tax Abatement Program, state Enterprise
Zone Program tax credits, New Jobs Tax Credit
Program tax credits).
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, andallCERCLA restrictions on use of funding
also apply to BCRLF funds.
Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
May 1999
New Orleans, Louisiana
EPA500-F-99-047
------- |