State and Tribal Response
Program Highlights
EPA Funding Provided to States and Tribes to Address Contaminated Land in their Communities
REGION I
RHODE ISLAND - The Rhode Island Family Life Center/Open
Doors (Open Doors) is a non-profit organization whose mission is
to strengthen communities by supporting the formerly incarcerated.
Open Doors is redeveloping a former brownfields property in
Providence's Environmental Justice Focus Zone into 19 affordable
efficiency apartments, community space and Open Doors offices.
The property was the former Sealtest Ice Cream Factory. After
completing Phase I and II environmental assessments on the
property, Open Doors applied for and received a $200,000 EPA
Cleanup grant. In 2009, during construction, it was determined that
an additional investigation was needed surrounding two abandoned
underground storage tanks (LIST) on the property. Open Doors
worked with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental
Management (RIDEM) to remove the USTs and complete
assessment activities. All state oversight of the investigation and
remediation was funded through RlOEM's Section 128(a) Response
Program grant. This project highlights the partnership of cooperative
funding partners working together to restore a historic landmark to
enhance the beauty and productivity in an economically depressed
neighborhood. The $6 million Open Doors project will open its doors
on July 1,2011.
Mist rendering of the Open Doors center
NEW YORK - HealthNow, the parent company of BlueCross/
BlueShield of Western New York, reviewed more than 130 sites and
selected a downtown Buffalo brownfield for the location of its new
corporate headquarters and operations center. For a hundred years,
ending in 1948, the Gas Works site was used by various owners to
manufacture gas from coal and oil for residential and commercial
lighting, heating and cooking. As a result, the soil and ground
water were extensively contaminated with wastes from the gas
manufacturing process. Cleanup included the excavation and off-site
disposal of thousands of tons of contaminated soil, and the treatment
of contaminated ground water. The New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation used Section 128(a) Response Program
funding to provide oversight of cleanup activities at the property.
Today, construction of the new HealthNow center incorporates the
landmark 1848 facade of the original Gas Works facility.
REGION 3
DELAWARE - The Delaware Department of Natural Resources
and Environmental Conservation (DNREC) used Section 128(a)
Response Program funding to create a Delaware Brownfields
Inventory. The inventory was created to ascertain a baseline number
of sites in targeted growth areas throughout the state as identified in
the 1999 State Strategic Spending Plan. The inventory is organized
into the following four subsets for tracking and sharing purposes.
1. When finalized, the inventory will be shared with EPA for
tracking purposes. New sites will be added to the inventory as
they are identified.
2. The inventory will include all sites that made formal applications
to DNREC and were certified brownfields pursuant to
Subsection 14.5-Brownfields Determination Criteria of the
Hazardous Substance Cleanup Act (HSCA).
3. The initial inventory will focus on Level I areas (i.e., Wilmington,
Dover, and Georgetown).
4. The inventory includes a priority list for marketing high profile
governmental or public policy involvement sites.
DNREC has recently received owner permission for the first eleven
(11) properties to be included in the public inventory.
SOUTH CAROLINA- Cotton Mill Village (a reference to the
building's original operations as a textile facility) is an $8.5 million, 39-
unit multifamily housing complex in Rock Hill that consists of 18 mill
style single family homes and 21 residential apartment units within
the restored mill building. This effort is part of a larger plan to create
a gateway leading into Hagins-Fewell, a historic mill neighborhood
currently undergoing revitalization after years of neglect. The City
of Rock Hill invested over $1.0 million for infrastructure upgrades
including the installation of sidewalks, street lighting, curbs, and
neighborhood entrance signs. The restoration of the 46,000-square
foot mill building was completed under a Brownfields Voluntary
Cleanup Contract with the South Carolina Department of Health and
Environmental Control—funded through a Section 128(a) Response
Program grant—and financed by IRS Section 42 Federal Tax Credits,
which were exchanged under the Tax Credit Exchange Program
using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Other
financing included Federal Housing and Urban Development HOME
CERCLA Section 128(a) State and Tribal Response Program Funding
March/April 201 I
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Program funds, Federal and State Historic Tax Credits, State Textile
Mill Tax Credits, and conventional financing. As of January 31, 2011
the property was 90% pre-leased with tenants anxiously awaiting
move-in.
Single family homes at Cotton Village in Rock Hill
ILLINOIS - Working with the City of Blue Island and the Illinois
Department of Public Health, the Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency used Section 128(a) Response Program funds to conduct a
site-specific brownfields assessment of vacant lands that are planned
for expansion of the Blue Island community gardens project. The
area identified for garden expansion lies immediately west of the
Indiana Harbor Belt rail line and east of the Canadian National Rail
lines. Analytic results from this environmental assessment provided
the information necessary to determine that fruits and vegetables
grown on the property are safe for consumption. Blue Island is a
4.5-square mile, 170-year-old city of 22,325 people located at the
southwest corner of Chicago. Known as the historic heart of the
Chicago Southland, Blue Island has been dominated by heavy
industry food processing, oil refining, brick making and railroads.
REGION 6
TEXAS -The 12-acre Discovery Green—a park located in the heart
of downtown Houston—became an anchor for over $500 million in
downtown redevelopment. Originally primarily an industrial area in
the 20th century, its occupants included dry cleaners, filling stations,
auto service and repair facilities, and machine and maintenance
shops. During the 1970s, a gas pipeline company acquired 32 blocks
of downtown Houston and developed an expansive, mixed-use
commercial complex with large office buildings, a shopping complex,
and a luxury hotel. The remaining blocks, which included the current
location of Discovery Green, became surface parking lots to service
the development. In 2004, a public-private partnership to secure the
site for a downtown park was initiated by a group of civic leaders and
the City of Houston. The site was entered into the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality's (TCEQ) Voluntary Cleanup Program-
funded through a Section 128(a) Response Program grant. When
cleanup at the site was accomplished, TCEQ issued a certificate
of completion and construction on the park began. Discovery
Green opened in 2008 as a place for people to gather, interact and
participate in healthy outdoor activities. Discovery Green welcomed
more than three million visitors and hosted more than 800 public and
private events in its first three years.
Discovery Green Parkin the heart of downtown Houston
REGION 8
SOUTHERN LITE TRIBE -The Southern Lite Tribe recently
completed the transformation of a vacant 10-acre brownfield
property into a 21,000+ square foot multi-purpose/chapel facility
in Ignacio, Colorado. Redeveloping the site, formerly known as
"Ute Park Buildings," was a priority for the tribe for years. Standing
in the way were three old buildings, long abandoned because of
extensive asbestos and lead contamination. In 2008 the Southern
Ute Tribal Response/Brownfields Program used Section 128(a)
Response Program funding to conduct Phase I and II environmental
assessments, develop a cleanup plan, and ultimately demolish
the buildings and properly dispose of the lead and asbestos
contaminated materials. Further, the tribe's Response/Brownfields
Blue Island Community Gardens Project
CERCLA Section 128(a) State and Tribal Response Program Funding
March/April 20II
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staff, working with their qualified environmental contractor, certified
the cleanup as complete and issued a letter to the Tribal Lands
Division and Bureau of Indian Affairs summarizing the action and
stating that the site has no land use restrictions going forward. With
cleanup complete the tribe finalized its redevelopment plans in 2009
and completed construction of the new facility in winter 2010-11. In
recent months the tribe began using the new facility as a gathering
space, learning center, office space, and area for elders and the elder
committee's activities. For additional information, visit the project
Website at: http://www.southern-ute.nsn.us/cpm/chapel-project.
The former lite Park Buildings site is now home to a multi-purpose/chapel facility
TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION - The Tohono O'odham Nation is
using Section 128(a) Response Program funding to increase the
tribal program's capacity to skillfully identify, investigate, inventory,
and prioritize potentially contaminated properties. The Nation's
Brownfields Program also provides review, coordination and
oversight for projects including information gathering, community
involvement, and environmental education. The Nation's Brownfields
Program is serving as a liaison between the Nation and EPA's
Abandoned Mine Lands Team on a pre-feasibility assessment
identifying development opportunities for a utility-scale solar energy
facility on 280 acres of mine-scarred tribal land near Tucson, Arizona.
A Targeted Brownfields Assistance application for project technical
assistance is in the tribal review process. As of January 2011, Phase
I environmental site assessments were completed for the former
Vekol Mine, Copperosity Mine and O'odham Construction site.
CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF COOS, LOWER UMPQUA, AND
SIUSLAW INDIANS - Under its Section 128(a) Response Program,
the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw
Indians in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, Air National Guard, Bureau
of Indian Affairs, and the Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality, recently completed an interim remedial action at the U.S.
Navy inholdings at Coos Head, Oregon. The U.S. Navy worked with
the Confederated Tribes to develop an expedited work plan and
response to the threats posed by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
dioxin and fuel. The cleanup action removed approximately 300 cubic
yards of soil contaminated with PCBs, dioxin and fuel resulting from
a transformer explosion. Sediment was also removed from storm
drains that pass through the transformer explosion area and continue
to the Confederated Tribes' land holding. After cleanup activities, the
excavated area was backfilled with clean soil and seeded.
Cleanup activities at the U.S. Navy inholdings at Coos Head
United States
Environmental
CERCLA Section I28(a) State and Tribal Response Program Funding
March/April 20! I EPA-560-F-I I-040
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