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                          Brownfields
                          Supplemental Assistance
                          Bernalillo  County, NM
BACKGROUND

EPA awarded Bernalillo County supplemental assistance
for its Brownfields  Assessment Demonstration Pilot.
Bernalillo County (populations 18,000), which encompasses
the City of Albuquerque, is bisected by the Rio Grande and
bordered by the Sandia Mountains to the east. Twenty-
four percent of the  county's residents live below the
poverty level, and minorities comprise 44 percent of the
county's population. Due to along history of industrial and
commercial activity,  the county is home to hundreds of
vacant or abandoned  sites with known or perceived
contamination. These brownfields are located in a region
of shallow groundwater connected to a deeper sole-
source aquifer,  which provides drinking  water for
Albuquerque and most of the county.

Bernalillo County' s original Pilot targeted two areas—the
South Valley, which is adjacent to the Rio Grande, and the
North Valley, which is adj acent to downtown Albuquerque
and includes  the city's historic  transportation  and
commercial corridor. The  original  Pilot  funded public
meetings to solicit input for a brownfields inventory. In
addition, a Phase I assessment was performed at the Nine
Mile Hill Landfill. Phase II work at the site is ongoing. Pilot
funds also were used to complete a Phase II assessment
at the Serna Trucking  Site. Supplemental assistance is
needed to perform additional assessments at properties
that are key to the county's open space development
plans.

OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES

Bernalillo County's  overall goal is to use the Pilot to
redevelop stigmatized properties in ordertobenefitwildlife,
improve  water quality, and provide recreational  and
educational open space for current and future generations
of county residents.  Four sites located in ecologically
vulnerable  areas—two agricultural properties along the
   PILOT SNAPSHOT
    Bernalillo County,
    New Mexico
Date of Announcement:
May 2002


Amount: $150,000

Profile: The Pilot targets four
brownfields in  ecologically
vulnerable areas for site
assessment activities in orderto
stimulate lightdevelopmentand
open space uses.
   Contacts:

   Bernalillo County
   Environmental Health
   Department
   (505)924-3670
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 6
(214)665-6736
        Visit the E PA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
    http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/bfpages/sfbfhome.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:
             www.epa.gov/brownfields

Rio Grande and two properties in the Sandiafoothills—will
be targeted. Phase I assessments of four sites will be
performed, with at least two sites  selected for further
Phase II assessment. Through cleanup and redevelopment
of these brownfields, the county hopes to provide residents
with much needed open space and light development.

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Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Continuing to solicit community input on the location of
  brownfields;

• Performing Phase I environmental site assessments at
  four targeted brownfields;

• Prioritizing the four brownfields and performing at least
  two Phase II environmental site assessments; and

• Planning remedial options for the two brownfields with
  Phase II assessments.
ThecooperativeagreementforthisPilothasnotyetbeennegotiated;therefore,
activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
                                                               Solid Waste            EPA 500-F-02-103
                                                               and Emergency         May 2002
                                                               Response  (5105)       www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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