United States
                  Environmental
                  Protection Agency
                  Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response  (5101)
EPA500-F-99-064
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
 >>EPA   Brownfields  Cleanup
                  Revolving  Loan   Fund   Pilot
                                                                Cowpens, SC
 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. 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 forthe 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

Cowpens, South Carolina, an historic Southern mill
town, has a population of 2,176, and is one of the
smallest communities to receive a Brownfields
Assessment Demonstration Pilot.  The Town has
suffered the closing of mills and factories, and the
resulting unemploymenthas left nearly one-third of the
households in the community without income earnings.
Over 16 percent of the population is minority, and
nearly 21  percent of the population live under the
poverty rate. The Town  hopes the cleanup of its
brownfields sites will lead to the revitalization of its
economy through the development of tourism, new
light manufacturing, and agricultural activities. The
Cowpens' BCRLF will focus on a former mill site -the
Linda Mill and a former factory site located between
an elementary school and a middle school.

BCRLF OBJECTIVES

The goals of the Cowpens BCRLF will be to:

• Promote environmental health and safety

• Promote pollutionpreventionandwasteminimization

• Encourage sustainable development
 PILOT SNAPSHOT
  Cowpens, South Carolina
Date of Announcement:
May 25,1999

Amount: $500,000

BCRLF Target Area:
Sites throughout Cowpens,
initially targeting  the
abandoned Linda Mill andthe
Health-Tex sites
 Contacts:
 Mayor's Office, Cowpens
 (864) 463-3201
  Region 4 Brownfields
  Coordinator
  (404) 562-8661
      Visit the EPA Region 4 Brownfields web site at:
   www.epa.gov/region4/wastepgs/brownfpgs/bf.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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• Encourage historic preservation and promote tourism

• Cleanup and redevelop brownfields sites

• Serve as a model for small towns with BCRLF pilots

Specific sites targeted for cleanup include the Linda
Mills Site and the Health-Tex Site. The Linda Mill is
atextile mill that was closed 20 years ago. The Health-
Tex  site  is undergoing a Phase II  environmental
assessment and the Town would like to turn the
228,000 square foot building into an eco-industrial
park.

FUND  STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS

The  Town of Cowpens, with assistance from the
Appalachian Council of Governments and the University
of South Carolina's Center for Manufacturing and
Technology, will serve as lead agency. The South
Carolina Department of Health and  Environmental
Control will assist the pilot in carrying out its site
managementresponsibilities,andFirst Citizens Bank
of South  Carolina will serve as fund manager.  It is
anticipated that loans will be made in the first round for
cleanup activities at both the Health-Tex site and the
Linda Mills Site. Loan terms will be determined on a
case-by-case basis.

LEVERAGING

Cowpens will work with the South CarolinaDepartment
of Commerce to ensure thatBCRLF borrowers integrate
other loan, grant, or tax incentive programs into their
redevelopment-financing package. Cowpens is
receiving funds from a Urban Development Action
Grant loan it made in the early 1980s. TheTownwill
considerusingaportionoftheseloanrepaymentfunds
for BCRLF-related activities. Additionally, the Army
Corps of Engineers and the  Department of Energy
have offered technological assistance and advisory
services that will assist the Town in the development
of its BCRLF program.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of funding
also apply to BCRLF funds.
 Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot                                   Cowpens,  South Carolina
 May 1999                                                                      EPA 500-F-99-064

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