Brownfields 2003 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
              Minneapolis Community Development Agency, MN
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

The Minneapolis Community Development Agency
was selected to receive an assessment grant. Bassett
Creek Valley is a federally designated Empowerment
Zone that sits at the doorstep of downtown Minneapolis.
Since the early 1900s, the area has contained
substandard housing for immigrants and a variety of
heavy industrial uses, including bulk petroleum storage
facilities and used oil and solvent recyclers. Three state
Superfund sites are located in the area, which also
contains paper and scrap metal processing companies.
The unemployment rate in the Empowerment Zone is
triple the state average, and 60 percent of children in
the Empowerment Zone live below the poverty level.
The city plans to redevelop the valley into a mixed-use
planned community of industrial, commercial, retail,
residential, and parkland uses. The completion of
environmental assessment activities will help the city
implement its community-driven master plan.
                  Assessment Grant

                  $200,000 for hazardous substances
                  $200,000 for petroleum

                  EPA has selected the Minneapolis Community
                  Development Agency to receive a brownfields
                  assessment grant. Grant funds will be used to assess
                  properties in the Bassett Creek Valley area of north
                  Minneapolis. Grant funds will be used to conduct
                  Phase I and Phase II assessments of various
                  properties for the presence of hazardous substances
                  or petroleum. The city also will use grant funds for
                  community outreach activities and to conduct
                  redevelopment planning.

                  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: Minneapolis, MN, City
                  of/Community Dev Agency
                  (612)673-5174

                  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-03-136
        Jun 03

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