United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-004
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
<&EPA Brownfields Supplemental
Assistance
Buffalo, NY
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
EPA awarded the City of Buffalo supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot. Economic decline and
contaminated industrial sites have negatively impacted
the quality of life for Buffalo communities. The city
of 328,000 residents bears a disproportionate number
of contaminated sites—more than 60 in the
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Information System
(CERCLIS) and more than 20 on the New York State
Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites. Fear
regarding possible contamination is attached to
countless other properties in the city.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
The Pilot's objective is to use the supplemental
assistance to retain its Brownfields Manager and,
thereby, continue its activities as a cooperative effort
working to promote the safe, productive, and
appropriate reuse of the city's brownfields. This
effort will contribute to ensuring a safer, cleaner
environment, as well as creating and promoting new,
high-quality residential, commercial, and industrial
acreage. The overall strategy of the Pilot is to provide
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Buffalo, New York
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $150,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
publicand private properties
that have near term
development potential and
are located in areas needing
revitalization.
Contacts:
City of Buffalo Regional Brownfields Team
Departmentof Community U.S. EPA - Region 2
Development (212)637-4314
(716)851-5633
Visit the EPA Region 2 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/r02earth/superfnd/brownfld/bfmainpg.htm
Forfurther 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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technical assistance and support during the
environmental assessment phase of planning and
development projects, accomplished by conducting or
leveraging Phase I and Phase II assessments and
more extensive environmental investigations as
warranted.
The Pilot is guided by the Buffalo Brownfields Task
Force, comprising county and city department officials;
regional state regulatory agency officials; a member
of the Interagency Working Group on Environmental
Justice; representatives from the city's official Buffalo
Environmental Management Commission; members
of the banking, legal, real estate, business, and
university communities; and the general public.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Address new sites as identified through interest by
the city's planning and development agencies;
• Communicate Pilot activities and results to the
appropriate stakeholders for decision making on
property redevelopment; and
• Conduct or leverage Phase I and Phase II
assessments and more extensive environmental
investigations as warranted.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this factsheetare subject to change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance Buffalo, New York
March 2000 EPA 500-F-00-004
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