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
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