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 ------- • 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) ------- |