Brownfields 2002 Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Fact Sheet
City of El Paso, TX
EPA Brownfields Initiative
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states.
communities, and other stakeholders to work together to
prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse
brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the
expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
complicated by the presence or potential presence of a
hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On
January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into
law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA
provides financial assistance to eligible applicants
through four competitive grant programs: assessment
grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and
job training grants. Additionally, funding support is
provided to state and tribal response programs through a
separate mechanism.
Background
El Paso (population 564,000) is the fifth largest city in
Texas and is located in west Texas on the border of
Mexico. The downtown business district and nearby
neighborhoods have suffered steady economic declines
since the 1960s. The decline, common to many cities in
the country, has resulted in the loss of thousands of
manufacturing jobs in El Paso and the abandonment of
manufacturing facilities throughout the city. Many sites
in the area are abandoned or underused properties
associated with former industrial, railroad, or other uses
with suspected contamination. El Paso is one of the
poorest urban areas in the country, with a 7%
unemployment rate, a 34% poverty rate, and a 77%
minority population. Downtown El Paso lies within a
federal Empowerment Zone and a state Enterprise Zone.
El Paso cannot afford to continue stretching public
infrastructure further from the city's center. In response
to urban sprawl, the city and the El Paso Empowerment
Zone Corporation have entered into a partnership to
create the El Paso Brownfields Redevelopment Project.
The El Paso Brownfields Redevelopment Project is one
of a number of strategies developed by the city and its
many community partners to promote infill development
and encourage revitalization of the historic economic,
cultural, and residential center of the community.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/01/2002
Amount: $1,000,000
Profile: El Paso Empowerment Zone
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant
contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
news and events, and publications and links, visit the
EPA Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 6 Brownfields Team
(214)665-6780
EPA Region 6 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region6/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: City of El Paso,TX
(915)541-4680
Objectives
The goal of the El Paso Brownfields Redevelopment
Project Pilot is to return brownfields in high-priority
areas of the city to productive use through identification
and assessment of potential brownfields and the
appropriate cleanup and redevelopment of these sites.
The BCRLF Pilot will focus on the El Paso
Empowerment Zone, which includes downtown El Paso
and the central core of the city, referred to as El
Corazon de El Paso (the Heart of El Paso). BCRLF
Pilot funds will be used in conjunction with the El Paso
City/County MultiBank Revolving Loan Fund, a
successful cooperative venture between local
government and a six-bank consortium to address the
capital access needs of small businesses. Potential
borrowers are expected to include small and medium
sized businesses, nonprofit community developers, and
local government agencies.
Activities
Fund Structure and Operations
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA500-F-02-019
May 02
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The City of El Paso is the cooperative agreement
recipient and will serve as the lead agency and site
manager. The El Paso Department of Public Works will
serve as the site manager. The El Paso Department of
Economic Development will serve as the fund manager.
The BCRLF will provide needed funds to leverage
investments by private developers, especially small and
medium-sized businesses, interested in being part of the
downtown revitalization. The city is creating two tax
increment finance districts to support redevelopment
efforts in the target communities. Redevelopment
projects will benefit from a variety of incentives and tax
abatements provided through the federal Empowerment
Zone, state Enterprise Zone, and city Tax Abatement
Policy.
The information presented in this fact sheet comes from
the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of
this information. The cooperative agreement for the
grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities
described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA500-F-02-019
May 02
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