United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response(5101)
EPA 500-F-99-044
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
State of Minnesota
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
The State of Minnesota's BCRLF Pilot will target
brownfields within the City of Duluth, the regional
center of northeastern Minnesota. Like other Midwest
cities, Duluth has suffered the loss of its traditional
manufacturing base and jobs. As a result, industrial
facilities have been abandoned, many residents have
left, and poverty rates have risen. Minority
communities have been disproportionately affected
by these losses. While Duluth focuses on economic
development efforts that attract and maintain "value-
added" manufacturing and service-sector jobs, it
continues to experience job losses in key industries.
BCRLFOBJECTIVES
With the aid of the BCRLF Pilot, the City of Duluth's
goal is to attract and build a diverse and healthy
manufacturing base. The city plans to use BCRLF
funds to attract private reinvestment as it continues to
reconstruct, redevelop, and revitalize itself into a
community with a broad, service-oriented economic
base. Brownfields reclamation is a major component
of Duluth's overall community development strategy.
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Date of Award:
September 1997
Amount: $350,000
BCRLF Target Area :
Brownfields in the City of
Duluth.
State of Minnesota
Contacts:
Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency
(612)296-8411
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 5
(312)886-7576
Visit the EPA Region 5 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/
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/
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FUNDSTRUCTUREANDOPERATIONS
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)
will be the Lead Agency for implementing the BCRLF
Pilot and will serve as Site Manager to oversee
cleanup. All sites getting BCRLF loans will receive
oversight from the MPCA Voluntary Investigation
and Cleanup (VIC) Program. MPCA Project Site
Managers may vary from site to site, but will stay
closely involved on projects enrolled in the VIC
Program, reviewing work plans and cleanup
investigations, approving cleanup plans, and providing
onsite oversight to ensure compliance with CERCLA.
Northspan Group Inc., a non-profit development
agency, will serve as the Fund Manager to oversee
the day-to-day details of implementing the loan
program. To prioritize potential projects and
applications, emphasis will be placed on the extent of
the contamination cleaned up, jobs created, private
and total investment leveraged and net tax base
increase for each application. The financing plan for
the BCRLF involves an initial fund capitalization of
$350,000.
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 Minnesota
May 1999 EPA500-F-99-044
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