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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