Brownfields 1998 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
               Kemmerer, WY
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

EPA has selected the City of Kemmerer for a
Brownfields Pilot. The city (population 3,250) is the seat
of Lincoln County. Since the end of the oil and gas boom
in the early 1980s, higher paying mining, construction,
and manufacturing jobs have steadily been replaced with
less lucrative service industry positions. In Lincoln
County, total employment and available labor have
dropped by about 40% over the past decade. Recruitment
of small to mid-sized manufacturing and professional
firms is difficult because there are few available sites,
despite the area's low population density. Almost 75% of
the land in Lincoln County is federally-owned, and much
of the private land is owned by a railroad company.
Homesteaders, with patented agricultural land, account
for much of the remaining land ownership.

A city-owned 16-acre parcel represents one of the few
opportunities for redevelopment in Lincoln County. The
Pilot area contains 12 vacant buildings, including a
potentially contaminated, idled power plant on the Hams
Fork River. Pilot funds will enable the city to assess the
site to determine if there are detectable levels of
contamination and what type of cleanup may be
necessary.
                   Pilot Snapshot

                   Date of Announcement: 05/01/1998
                   Amount: $105,000
                   Profile: The Pilot targets a municipally-owned
                   16-acre property with 12 buildings, including an
                   abandoned power plant, for assessment and
                   redevelopment.

                   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 8 Brownfields Team
                   (303)312-7074
                   EPA Region 8 Brownfields Web site
                   (http://www.epa.gov/region8/brownfields)

                   Grant Recipient: Kemmerer, WY
                   (307) 828-2360
                 Objectives

                 The Pilot aims to return the power plant property to
                 productive use while protecting human health and the
                 environment. The Pilot will assess and quantify any
                 risks posed by the power plant property and identify
                 appropriate, community-supported reuses for the area.
                 The information gained through the assessment process,
                 and the cleanup and redevelopment plan will be used to
                 leverage additional public and private funding.

                 Activities

                 Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

                      • Reviewing existing environmental data to
                       determine whether more cleanup of the identified
                       brownfields property is needed;
                      • Conducting environmental sampling on the
                       property, to determine the extent of
                       contamination and associated health and
                       environmental risks;
  United States
  Environmental
  Protection Agency
  Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA500-F-98-158
        May 98

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                                                          • Implementing a community education and
                                                           involvement plan to obtain input on cleanup and
                                                           reuse of the property; and
                                                          • Completing a cleanup and redevelopment plan
                                                           that identifies appropriate uses and public
                                                           preferences for reuse.
                                                          • The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not
                                                           yet been negotiated; therefore, activities
                                                           described in this fact sheet are subject to change.

                                                     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                        Q ., . ,A/__t,.
Environmental                       andldEmSency                                           EPA *»
Protection Agency                    ResDonse(51oVn                                                  May 98
Washington, DC 20450                 Kesponse (bl Ob I)

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