United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-00-268
December 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Bonne Terre, MO
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 selected the City of Bonne Terre for a
Brownfields Pilot. Located on the northern edge of
the Missouri Lead Belt, Bonne Terre (population
3,800) has suffered economically from the closure of
mines more than 20 years ago. Mining waste has
contaminated soil and surface water in some areas of
the city. Bonne Terre residents and potential new
businesses are concerned about potential human
health and environmental risks, particularly from the
fine lead tailings that are subject to dispersion by the
wind.
OBJECTIVES
Through its brownfields effort, Bonne Terre will
characterize and address potential environmental risks
and develop a 122-acre commercial/retail zone and
industrial park on brownfields that lie near Superfund
mine waste properties. The City Council has
sanctioned a Bonne Terre Brownfields Committee,
which includes a representative of the City Council,
the City Manager, the Assistant to the City Manager,
a liaison from Doe Run (the sole solvent potentially
responsible party), and a representative of Mineral
Area Community College, to carry out the regional
brownfields project. This brownfields project is
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Bonne Terre, Missouri
Date of Announcement:
September 1996
Amount: $100,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
a 122-acre area that lies
nearSuperfund minewaste
properties.
Contacts:
City of Bonne Terre
(573) 358-2254 or 4000
U.S. EPA-Region 7
(913)551-7788
Visit Bonne Terre's Brownfields web site at:
http://www.bonne-terre.mo.us/brown.htm
Visit the EPA Region 7 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region07/specinit/brown/brownfields.htm
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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expected to restore otherwise underdeveloped land
within the city limits into productive use and create a
model plan that will help neighboring municipalities
facing similar challenges. The Pilot targets an
underdeveloped area immediately adjacent to, and
perceived to be adversely affected by, the mine waste
properties being addressed by EPA Region 7
Superfund program. These properties are not to be
addressed under the Superfund investigation and are
the city's focus for a new industrial park.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Created an Industrial Development Authority (IDA)
in January 1997 to acquire the targeted brownfields
properties for cleanup and redevelopment;
• Participated in five Bonne Terre Brownfields
Committee public meetings, which provided
opportunities to answer stakeholder questions
regarding the Pilot program;
• Prepared a redevelopment plan that outlines the
beneficial land uses for brownfields properties while
meeting the needs of the community;
• Established a web site (www.bonne-terre.mo.us/
brown.htm) that focuses on brownfields
redevelopment and displays zone information and
state and federal tax initiatives; and
• Transferred the entire redevelopment area from
private ownership to IDA.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Bonne Terre Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities, including the following:
• The Pilot met with both the Missouri Department of
Natural Resources and the Missouri Department of
Economic Developmentto discuss how the targeted
properties that successfully complete the state's
voluntary cleanup program may be eligible for a
variety of state financial incentives for both the
party conducting the cleanup and future businesses
located on these properties.
Using leveraged funds, the Pilot assessed the four
targeted properties as part of the EPA/Doe Run
Lead Company lead chat piles investigation.
Cleanup activities are completed at three sites
(MARMC, Bonne Terre Texaco, and former lead
smelter site).
A total of 20 cleanup jobs were created at the
MARMC and Bonne Terre Texaco sites.
The Pilot and Mineral Area Community College
worked together to conduct public participation
activities, including brownfields briefings for the
Brownfields Committee and City Council, several
one-on-one sessions with potentially affected
landowners, public availability sessions for interested
community members, and brownfields presentations
to community groups and other interested parties.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
December 2000
Bonne Terre, Missouri
EPA 500-F-00-268
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