Brownfields 2009 Assessment Grant  Fact Sheet
               Lake
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

The City of Lake Charles was selected to receive a
brownfields assessment grant. Located in southwest
Louisiana, Lake Charles (population 71,757) is focused
on revitalizing the North Lake Charles area,
Downtown/Lake Front Development District, and
adjacent Charpentier National Register Historic District.
Over 6,600 parcels are potential brownfields in North
Lake Charles, where former industrial properties on the
river bank, such as asphalt and cement plants and dump
sites, are abandoned or underused. In the target
community, the 30 percent poverty rate is substantially
higher than the citywide average, and about 84 percent
of residents are African-American. Brownfield
assessments are expected to reduce environmental
barriers to site cleanup and redevelopment, enabling the
city to leverage funding to revitalize these
neighborhoods.
                   Assessment Grant

                   $200,000 for hazardous substances

                   EPA has selected the City of Lake Charles for a
                   brownfields assessment grant. Community-wide
                   hazardous substances grant funds will be used to
                   conduct 10 Phase I and 4 Phase II environmental site
                   assessments. Grant funds also will be used to support
                   community outreach activities.

                   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 6 Brownfields Team
                   (214) 665-6780
                   EPA Region 6 Brownfields Web  site
                   (http://www.epa.gov/region6/brownfields)

                   Grant Recipient: City of Lake Charles,LA
                   (337)491-1542

                   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-09-140
        May 09

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