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                           Brownfields
                           Supplemental Assistance
                          City of Shreveport,  LA
BACKGROUND

EPA awarded Shreveport supplemental assistance for its
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. Shreveport
(population 198,500) is the state's third largest city and is
located at the crossroads of major rail and  highway
systems that transport large volumes of hazardous
materials. During the regional decline of the oil industry in
the  1980s, Shreveport lost 10,000 jobs, many of them
located in the older inner-city industrial area. The inner city
contains hundreds of acres of industrial sites that lie vacant
due to the perceived  threat of contamination. Fear of
environmental liability isimpeding redevelopment, increasing
urban blight, and causing businesses to locate in prime
agricultural areas outside the city. The urban core, a
federal Empowerment Zone (EZ), has an unemployment
rate of 20 percent  and a poverty  rate  of 40 percent,
approximately double the city wide rates.

The objective of the Pilot is to increase the economic and
environmental viability  of Shreveport's urban core
neighborhoods. Thisisbeing accomplished by formalizing
partnerships between  the city and  other organizations
working towardrevitalization; implementing environmental
assessments at specific properties; promoting brownfields
redevelopmentopportunities;leveraging resources to attract
federal, state, and private funds; and conducting outreach
to business,  educational,  neighborhood,  and other
organizations.

OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES

The city will use the supplemental assistance to conduct
Phase I and Phase II assessments at two sites in the city's
Inter Tech Area, which is in one of the oldest urban
neighborhoods surrounding the  city  center. The area
almost ceased to exist as an industrial area after 1969.
Many  of the buildings are abandoned or  run down.
   PILOT SNAPSHOT
    Shreveport, Louisiana
Date of Announcement:
May 2002


Amount: $150,000

Profile: The Pilot plans to
conductassessmentsof43acres
in the InterTech area, which is
slated for redevelopment as a
medical science and research
park.
   Contacts:

   City of Shreveport Department
   of Operational Services
   (318)673-7660
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
Redevelopment plans are to  convert the area into a
planned medical science and research park.

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Completing Phase I  and Phase II environmental
  assessments at two sites comprising 43 acres in the
  InterTech area;

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• Conducting Phase I environmental site assessments at up
  to seven additional priority sites;

• Updating and maintaining the city's brownfields database;
  and

• Continuing outreachandcommunityinvolvementactivities.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore,
activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
                                                                Solid Waste            EPA 500-F-02-105
                                                                and Emergency         May 2002
                                                                Response (5105)       www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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