Brownfields 2009 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
              Rutland Regional Planning Commission, Rutland County, VT
EPA Brownfields Program

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. In
2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act was passed to help
states and communities around the country cleanup and
revitalize brownfields sites. Under this 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.

Community Description

The Rutland Regional Planning Commission was
selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. The
Rutland region is located in west-central Vermont along
the New York border. The region is primarily rural and
includes most of the communities within Rutland
County (population 63,743). The economies of these
small communities were based on mining, textile, and
other industrial operations. Declines in these industries
have left many once-thriving industrial sites abandoned.
There are nearly 300 sites in the region with known
hazardous materials releases. Contamination is
suspected at many other sites. The  region has higher
unemployment and poverty rates than the state of
Vermont as a whole. Assessment of brownfields
throughout the region is expected to help expedite the
redevelopment of abandoned and underused sites while
preserving greenspace.
                  Assessment Grant

                  $200,000 for hazardous substances

                  EPA has selected the Rutland Regional Planning
                  Commission for a brownfields assessment grant.
                  Community-wide hazardous substances grant funds
                  will be used to conduct six Phase I and two Phase II
                  environmental site assessments. Grant funds also
                  will be used to prepare cleanup plans and support
                  community outreach activities.

                  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 1 Brownfields Team
                  (617)918-1424
                  EPA Region 1 Brownfields Web site
                  (http: //www. epa.gov/region 1 /brownfields)

                  Grant Recipient: Rutland Regional Planning
                  Commission, VT
                  (802)775-0871

                  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)
EPA560-F-09-104
        May 09

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