Brownfields 2011 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
               Wye County,
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

Nye County was selected to receive a brownfields
assessment coalition grant. The county's coalition
partners are Esmeralda, Lincoln, and White Pine
Counties in Nevada, and Inyo County in California.
Located in southern Nevada and on the
California-Nevada border, the five counties (combined
population 75,817) have been dependent on the mining
industry for most of their histories. Mine-scarred lands
in the counties offer key opportunities for
redevelopment for sources of renewable energy
because they offer large amounts of space near
necessary infrastructure, such as transmission lines.
However, the counties have had difficulty attracting
renewable energy businesses because of several factors,
including blight and suspected contamination from
facilities such as gas stations, methamphetamine labs,
manufacturing plants, and refineries. The
unemployment rate exceeds 17 percent in one of the
coalition counties, while in two of the counties, over 16
percent of residents live in poverty. All communities
within the coalition area are facing high home
foreclosure rates. Assessment of brownfields is
expected to identify corridors for transmission and
renewable energy redevelopment, and leverage
redevelopment funding.
                   Assessment Grant

                   $700,000 for hazardous substances
                   $300,000 for petroleum

                   EPA has selected Nye County for a brownfields
                   assessment coalition grant. Community-wide
                   hazardous substances and petroleum grant funds will
                   be used to develop a list of prioritized sites, perform
                   approximately 20 Phase I and five Phase II
                   environmental site assessments, and enforce
                   institutional controls. Grant funds also will be used
                   to conduct cleanup planning,  support community
                   outreach activities, and develop an area-wide plan
                   focused on renewable energy redevelopment
                   potential.

                   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 9 Brownfields Team
                   415-972-3364
                   EPA Region 9 Brownfields Web site
                   (http://www.epa.gov/region9/brownfields)

                   Grant Recipient: Nye County,NV
                   775-727-3484

                   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-128-126
         May 11

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Environmental                           and Emergency                                               EPA 56°-p-1

Protection Agency                        Resoonse f51 Q5Ti                                                        May 11
Washington, DC 20450                   Kesponse (bl Ob I)

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