Brownfields 2003  Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
              Mahoning County, OH
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. 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.

Community Description

Mahoning County was selected to receive an
assessment grant. The Youngstown-Warren
metropolitan area was once the third  largest
steel-producing community in the nation. The mills
dotted the banks of the Mahoning River, employing
approximately 65,000 people before their demise in the
late 1970s. Today, basic steel industries employ about
4,000 people in the region. The county still has not
recovered from this loss of jobs. Unemployment in
Mahoning County is  17 percent, the poverty rate is 26
percent, and brownfields are concentrated in the
county's core cities. Economic development is at a
standstill until the identified brownfields in these cities
are assessed, remediated, and prepared for
redevelopment. The Mahoning River Corridor of
Opportunity (MRCO) Planning Committee, a
consortium of 31 public and private entities, has been
organized to facilitate brownfields redevelopment in the
Mahoning River valley.
                   Assessment Grant

                   $170,000 for hazardous substances

                   EPA has selected the Mahoning County for a
                   brownfields assessment grant. Grant funds will be
                   used to perform Phase II assessments at sites within
                   a 120-acre, former steel and industrial complex
                   bordering the Mahoning River. Grant funds also will
                   be used to conduct redevelopment planning
                   activities. The County will provide the funds needed
                   to develop outreach materials and involve the
                   community in redevelopment decisions.

                   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 5 Brownfields Team
                   (312)886-7576
                   EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site
                   (http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields)

                   Grant Recipient: Mahoning County, OH
                   (330) 740-8799

                   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)
EPA500-F-03-127
        Jun 03

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