Brownfields 2010 Assessment Grant  Fact Sheet
               West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
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 West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection was selected to receive a brownfields
assessment grant. West Virginia (population 1,816,856)
is targeting the historic U.S. Route 60 Midland Trail
(population 30,000), a National Scenic Byway located
along a 119-mile trail in the Appalachian Mountains.
Since the early 1900s, the economies of the 29 towns
and rural communities along the trail relied on the
bituminous coal, timber, and petrochemical industries.
Major job losses in these industries and construction of
Interstate 64, which shifted travelers away from the
trail, have caused serious economic problems. The
area"s population has declined, and the scenic trail has
been left with many closed and abandoned businesses,
including gas stations. The poverty rate in the Midland
area is 21.2 percent. Brownfield assessments will
clarify conditions at the sites and are expected to
facilitate planned reuse of the sites for historical
interpretive stops along the trail and attract tourism and
tourism-related jobs to the area.
                   Assessment Grant $200,000 for petroleum
                   EPA has selected the West Virginia Department of
                   Environmental Protection for a brownfields
                   assessment grant. Community-wide petroleum grant
                   funds will be used to prioritize sites and perform up
                   to 10 Phase I and five Phase II environmental site
                   assessments. Grant funds also will be used for
                   community outreach activities and cleanup planning.

                   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 3 Brownfields Team
                   (215)814-3129
                   EPA Region 3 Brownfields Web site
                   (http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bf-lr)

                   Grant Recipient: West Virginia Department of
                   Environmental Protection
                   304-926-0499 ext 1275

                   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)
EPA 560-F-10-065
        Apr 10

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