Brownfields 2003 Revolving  Loan  Fund Grant
              Fact Sheet
  ***лл*      Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development
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 Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic
Development was selected to receive a revolving loan
fund grant. The state, with a population of almost 5
million, has a number of federal Empowerment Zones
in its two largest cities, St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Minnesota has documented 1,587 brownfields sites and
estimates that there are at least an additional 1,000
undocumented sites. Many of these sites are the result
of contamination at former commercial/industrial
centers along railroad and river corridors, city centers,
and dump sites. The conditions at these sites have
decreased quality of life, lowered property values, and
kept away business and redevelopment projects in the
surrounding areas. These areas are traditionally
low-income neighborhoods with high unemployment
and poverty rates. It is anticipated that the proposed
revolving loan fund will result in a program likely to
serve about 20 projects during a ten-year period,
thereby creating new jobs, affordable housing, and
increasing the tax base.
                   Revolving  Loan Fund Grant

                   $1,000,000 for hazardous substances

                   EPA has selected the Minnesota Department of
                   Trade and Economic Development for a brownfields
                   revolving loan fund grant. The grant will be used to
                   capitalize a revolving loan fund from which the
                   Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic
                   Development will provide loans and subgrants to
                   conduct cleanup activities. The areas of need
                   includes large-scale, complicated, or heavily
                   contaminated sites where funding has been
                   exhausted, sites where unanticipated contamination
                   has been discovered while cleanup is underway, and
                   sites where cash flows may not support traditional
                   loan repayment (such as  sites where the planned
                   reuse is for a public park).

                   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: Minnesota Department of Trade
                   and Economic Development
                   (651)297-1291

                   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-03-137
        Jun 03

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