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Brownfields  2005

Grant  Fact  Sheet

Fairbanks North  Star

        Borough,  AK


EPA Brownfields Program

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, commu-
nities, and other stakeholders in economic development
to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up,
and sustainably reuse brownfields. Abrownfield 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. Addi-
tionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.

Community Description

The Fairbanks North Star Borough was selected to
receive a brownfields assessment grant. Within the
borough (population 85,978), the target area includes a
former Fairbanks City landfill that has impeded devel-
opment opportunities on what should be prime real
estate along the Chena River. One of Fairbanks' most
economically depressed neighborhoods lies directly
south and east of the site. Unemployment in this target
area is 7.4 percent, and the percentage of American
Indian and Alaskan Native people is 15.5 percent. The
city landfill, which was unregulated from  1951 to 1965,
was filled primarily with municipal refuse, scrap metal,
junk automobiles, scrap lumber, and household goods.
In the late 1960s, one-third of the site was developed
  Assessment Grant
                                   2005
   $200,000 for hazardous substances

   EPA has selected the Fairbanks North Star
   Borough for a brownfields assessment grant.
   Grant funds will be used to perform Phase I and
   II site assessments and prepare a corrective
   action plan for the former Fairbanks City landfill
   located at 1980 Second Avenue.
   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 at: www.epa.gov/
  brownfields.

  EPA Region 10 Brownfields Team
  206-553-2100
  http://www.epa.gov/rlOearth, click on
  "Superfund", scroll down and click on
  "Brownfields"

  Grant Recipient: Fairbanks North Star Borough,
  AK
  907-459-1351

  The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
  yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
  in this fact sheet are subject to change.
into baseball fields with a pedestrian pathway parallel-
ing the river. In 2004, a portion of the site was paved
as a parking lot, leaving the remainder of the site
undeveloped. Erosion along the Chena River has
resulted in some buried waste at the landfill being
exposed, including appliances, construction waste, and
automobile parts. The borough plans to redevelop the
property into a mixed-use development of commercial,
residential, office, and sports facilities, with an adjacent
site being developed into a fish hatchery.
                                                 Solid Waste and
                                                 Emergency Response
                                                 (5105T)
                        EPA560-F-05-152
                        May 2005
                        www.epa.gov/brownfields

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