&EPA
                   United States
                   Environmental
                   Protection Agency
                   Washington, D.C.  20460
                           Solid Waste
                           and Emergency
                           Response (5101)
      EPA500-F-98-132
      May 1998
                                 Assessment
Demonstration   Pilot
                             Pioneer Valley,  MA
  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.  Since 1995, EPA has funded more than 150 Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of
brownfields solutions. The Pilots 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.
OVERVIEW

EPA has selected the Pioneer Valley Planning
Commission (PVPC) for a Brownfields Pilot. Located
in midwestern Massachusetts, the Pioneer Valley
Region consists of 43 cities and towns in Hampshire
and Hampden counties.  Although the region is
known for its industrial heritage, this legacy has left
a surplus of brownfields. The region has apopulation
of approximately 603,000, and contains 450 vacant
and contaminated industrial sites.  Most of these sites
are located in the region's three major urban areas
(Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee), where 25% of the
residents are minorities and one-third of the low-
income population resides.  In  addition, because
many of the region's old mill buildings were built
near  outlying water sources, brownfields are also
found in the area's suburbs and rural locations.

OBJECTIVES

The Pilot plans to work with the PVPC to increase the
urban core's vitality and stability by encouraging the
assessment, cleanup, and reuse of brownfields; and
to decrease industry' s movement from the urban core
and its ongoing development of greenfields by easing
existing barriers to brownfields cleanup and reuse.
                             PILOT SNAPSHOT
                               Pioneer Valley,
                               Massachusetts
  Date of Announcement:
  May 1998

  Amount: $200,000

  Profile: The Pioneer
  Valley Region
  encompasses 43 cities
  and towns and 602,000
  residents in midwestern
  Massachusetts.
                           Contacts:

                           Pioneer Valley Planning
                           Commission
                           (413)781-6045
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 1
(617)573-9681
                                Visit the EPA Regionl Brownfields web site at:
                               http://www.epa.gov/region01/remed/brnfld/

                             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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The Pilot will create an inventory of brownfields sites
to match properties with developers and establish site
cleanup and reuse criteria by partnering with area
stakeholders.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Developing an  Internet-accessible inventory of
  known brownfields sites in ageographic information
  system (GIS);

• Creating a monitoring and reporting system within
  the GIS to track the region's brownfields cleanup
  and redevelopment projects on an ongoing basis;

• Developing a list of key site characteristics for
  differenttypes of properties and establishing criteria
  to identify priority brownfields sites; and

• Providing seed  money  to help communities,
  community development corporations, and not-for-
  profit developers conduct site assessments.  This
  seed  money will be  matched  with Community
  Development Block Grant funds, other municipal
  funds, partnerships with other developers, and other
  sources.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been
negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet
are subject to change.
  Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot                                    Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts
  May 1998                                                                        EPA500-F-98-132

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