United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5105)
  EPA 500-F-01-270
  April 2001
  www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  &EPA        EPA  Brownfields
                       Assessment
                       Demonstration  Pilot
                                                              Jefferson  Parish, LA
 Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
                   Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields  Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, and safely clean up
brownfields  to promote their sustainable reuse. Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and
commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental
contamination. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years,
with additional funding provided for greenspace) to test assessment models and facilitate coordinated assessment
and cleanup efforts at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels; and job training pilot programs (each funded up to
$200,000 over two years) to provide training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup
of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan
fund program (each funded up to $1,000,000  over five years) to provide financial assistance for the environmental
cleanup of  brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities, and
communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new  methods to promote a unified
approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND

EPA has selected Jefferson Parish for a Brownfields
Assessment Pilot. Jefferson Parish is a suburb of
New Orleans and is the second largest parish in
Louisiana with a population of more than 300,000.
The parish is bisected by an American Heritage
River, the Mississippi. The east bank has little land
available for new development, and hurricane
protection systems, wetlands, and flood levees limit
development on the  west bank. The  parish's
brownfields can be traced to intense industrial and
commercialdevelopmentassociatedwith Mississippi
River commerce that has since declined.

Lower-income minority neighborhoods are clustered
near Jefferson Parish's brownfields.  Despite
accelerated growth during the last half of the 20th
century, the parish is experiencing nearly flat growth
as its population moves to more rural parishes. Many
commercial and industrial properties have been
abandoned  as businesses move  to greenfields.
Jefferson Parish plans to work with neighboring
Pilots to share public participation models, coordinate
brownfields databases, and  partner on funding
proposals.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
April 2001

Amount: $200,000

Profile: The Pilot targets
brownfields located along the
Mississippi River, which was once
the location of thriving businesses
based on commerce from the river.
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Contacts:

Jefferson Parish
(504)736-6615
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 6
(214)665-6736
     Visit the E PA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
 http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/bfpages/sfbfhome.htm

   Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
 additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
 publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
        http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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OBJECTIVES

Jefferson Parish plans to return at  least three
brownfields to productive reuse by 2006. The
Jefferson Parish Pilot will build on work begun by the
Southeastern Regional Planning Commission Pilot
(awarded in 1999). The Pilot has already identified
four brownfields for potential Phase I and Phase II
environmental site assessments. The Pilotwill convene
a brownfields task force to identify more sites and
prioritize them for  assessments.  The task force,
which will be made up of 15 elected citizens as well
as 15 technical and economic advisors, will select six
sites for Phase I assessments. The three highest
priority sites will proceed to Phase II assessments.
The Pilot plans to develop cleanup and reuse plans
for these sites.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Holding meetings to introduce parish residents to
  the brownfields project and to solicit their input,
  with a special commitment to  reaching out to
  environmentaljustice communities;

• Convening abrownfieldsredevelopmenttaskforce
  comprised of citizens and technical and economic
  advisors who serve as the primary decision-making
  body of the project;

• Conducting six Phase I and  three Phase II
  environmental site assessments of priority sites;
  and

• Developing cleanup and reuse plans for the three
  priority sites.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
 Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot                                              Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
 April 2001                                                                          EPA500-F-01-270

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