United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5101)
  EPA 500-F-97-027
  May 1997
                       National   Brownfields
                       Assessment  Pilot
                                                   Oregon  Mill  Sites
  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.
  BACKGROUND

  EPA selectedthe Oregon Economic Development
  Department for a Brownfields Pilot. The Mill Site
  Conversion Project, is a public/private partnership
  created to return seven vacant mill sites in rural
  communities to productive use.   The  Rural
  Development  Initiatives, Inc.  is  the  lead
  organization of the partnership that include s Pacific
  Corporation, U.S. Bank, and the lawfirm of Stoel,
  Rives, Boley, Jones and Grey. In many of these
  communities, these sites representthe only property
  zoned for industrial  use.    To create new jobs,
  vacant sites  must be converted into usable,
  environmentally and financially viable industrial
  property.  Due to the risk and liability associated
  with the sites, the mill properties have either been
  abandoned and condemned by the community for
  backtaxes, or "warehoused" by mill owners. Many
  sites contain chemicals, transformers, and asbestos
  which are slowly deteriorating and pose a potential
  threat to human health, soil, and groundwater.
  These sites are located in the towns of Astoria,
  Bandon, Coquille, Klamath Falls, Molalla, Myrtle
  Creek, Philomoth, Sweet Home, and Tygh Valley
  and, and cover more than 550 acres.
 PILOT SNAPSHOT
   State of Oregon
    Date of Award:
    September 1995

    Amount: $200,000

    Site Profile: The Pilot
    targets nine abandoned
    mill sites located in
    Astoria, Bandon, Coquille,
    Klamath Falls, Molalla,
    Myrtle Creek, Philomoth,
    Sweet Home, and Tygh
    Valley. Collectively, the
    mill sites cover more than
    500 acres.
Contacts:

Dana Peck
Mill Site Conversion
Coordination
(503) 236-0270
Matt Wilkening
U.S. EPA-Region 10
(206)553-1284
wilkening. richard@epamail.
epa.gov
                                                      Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
                                                      http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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OBJECTIVES

The  Mill  Site Conversion  Project is working to
rehabilitate vacant and abandoned mill sites into
productive industrial and commercial properties and
enable surrounding communities to recruit, expand,
and retain businesses. Ultimately, the project aims to
bring new and diverse employment opportunities to
rural areas in Oregon.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Formulated a scope of work for review by Rural
 Development  Initiatives,  Inc. (RDI)'s mill  site
 advisory committee;

• Begun Phase I and II environmental assessments at
 seven vacant mill sites; and

• Published the Siteline newsletter to build awareness
 in the community of the  project's progress and
 activities.

The Pilot is:

• Developing assessment and  cleanup approaches,
 quantifying costs, and evaluating the potential for
 generic cleanup remedies for the seven mill sites in
 orderto help developers assesstheir cleanup liability,
 financing options, and development risks, and to
 establish cleanup standards for similar abandoned
 mill sites;

• Creating a computer model to measure the costs and
 benefits  of various  cleanup  options, and to help
 guide  development of tax incentives  and other
 financial methods for encouraging assessment,
 cleanup,  and redevelopment.  The models will help
 community and regulatory  agencies assess the
 benefits of various financing options while giving
 property owners and developers a means to evaluate
 the benefits and relative risks of redevelopment;

• Developing  site-specific reuse  plans  that are
 consistent with redevelopment opportunities, local
 economic development  strategies, infrastructure
 needs, environmental and  land-use planning
 requirements, and the goals of developers;
• Coordinating  interaction  between  project
 stakeholders and partners; and

• Establishing Local Action Committees in affected
 communities  to ensure  broad  community
 participation in the brownfield redevelopment
 process.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the Oregon Mills Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities including the following.

• Based on a risk assessment report, the Astoria site
 has been identified as an opportunity for use of
 planning funds in cooperation with Oregon's
 Department of Environmental Quality  and
 ShoreTrust Advisory Services. ShoreTrust Advisory
 Services loanedthe City of Astoria $700,000 for use
 in brownfields cleanup.
 National Brownfields Assessment Pilot
 May 1997
                               Oregon Mill Sites
                              EPA 500-F-97-027

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