United States
                      Environmental
                      Protection Agency
                      Washington, D.C. 20460
  Solid Waste
  and Emergency
  Response (5101)
EPA500-F-97-135
April 1997
                      National   Brownfields
                      Assessment  Pilot
                        Northwest Regional Planning
                                                  Commission,  Wl
  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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. 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 Northwest Regional Planning
Commission (NWRPC)  as a Brownfields Pilot.
Northwest Wisconsin contains many abandoned or
under-used industrial and commercial properties. In
addition, area municipalities have declined to take
tax deeds on many of the delinquent properties because
of environmental concerns, effectively making these
properties brownfields. Unemployment in northwest
Wisconsin is \1A times the state average.

Six sites with known contamination have been targeted
for the pilot, and an additional six sites may also be
considered forthe pilot. The selected sites will include
a variety of under-used public and private properties.
Examples of such  sites include a former charcoal
factory, grain elevators, and other vacant industrial
properties occupying a 75-acre waterfront area in the
City of Superior. Development in this area has been
inhibited by the presence  of brownfields despite its
key location near utilities, shipping and  rail
transportation routes, and skilled labor market.
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
  Northwest Wisconsin
  Date of Award:
  April 1997

  Amount: $195,510

  Site Profile: Six sites
  with known contamination
  have been targeted for the
  pilot, and an additional six
  sites located throughout
  Northwest Wisconsin, may
  also be considered for the
  pilot.
Contacts:

Dale Cardwell
Northwest Regional
Planning Commission
(715)635-2197
  Mary Beth Tuohy
  U.S. EPA-Region 5
  (312)886-7596
  tuohy.marybeth@
  epamail.epa.gov
                                                    Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
                                                    http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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OBJECTIVES

The goal ofNWRPC is to develop aprocess to assess,
cleanup, and redevelop brownfields sites. NWRPC's
objectives for the pilot are to: 1) develop tools to
finance the cleanup of rural brownfields; 2) encourage
economic development of critical community sites
while ensuring appropriate cleanups; 3) expand job
opportunities for minority and low-income persons
in economically  distressed  communities;  and  4)
develop a network of economic  development and
environmental professionals to address brownfields
redevelopment. A steering committee made  up of
five municipalities, two tribes, economic development
representatives, and community members will guide
the implementation of a brownfields redevelopment
process that can be applied throughout northwest
Wisconsin.

ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this pilot include:

• Educating community leaders and professionals in
  the brownfields redevelopment process;

• Conducting  Phase I  and Phase II environmental
  assessments at six sites with suspected contamina-
  tion;

• Identifying appropriate future uses for the targeted
  sites; and

• Implementing site remediation and redevelopment
  plans.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been
negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact
sheet are subject to change.
  National Brownfields Assessment Pilot                        Northwest Regional Planning Commission, Wisconsin
  April 1997                                                                       EPA 500-F-97-135

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