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Brownfields 2009 Assessment Grant
Fact Sheet
Montachusett Regional Planning Commission,
North Central Massachusetts
RECOUERY.GOV
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
February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into
law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The
Recovery Act is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our
economy, and create or save millions of jobs. This law
provided stimulus funds to the Brownfields Program to
award grants to evaluate and clean up former industrial
and commercial sites. Under this law, EPA will provide
financial assistance to eligible applicants through four
competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving
loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants.
Community Description
The Montachusett Regional Planning Commission
(MRPC) was selected to receive a brownfields assessment
grant. Located in north-central Massachusetts, the
Montachusett Region consists of 22 municipalities
(population 228,005). Since the 19th century, the region's
economy has been based on industry, with chair and
furniture manufacturing, papermaking, and plastics as the
dominant industries. Over the past six years, 16 of the
communities in the region experienced more job losses
than job gains. The MRPC maintains a list of 530
potential brownfield sites throughout the region, many of
which are abandoned or underutilized. All are within five
miles of the Millers and Nashua Rivers and their
tributaries. Many brownfield sites are located in areas with
high concentrations of minority residents and low-income
households. Brownfields assessment will allow the MRPC
to gain information about real or perceived environmental
contamination and is expected to facilitate site cleanup
and eventual reuse.
Assessment Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances
(Recovery Act Funding)
EPA has selected the Montachusett Regional
Planning Commission for a brownfields
assessment grant. Community-wide hazardous
substances grant funds will be used to conduct 14
Phase I and 2 Phase II environmental site
assessments in the Montachusett Region of
Massachusetts. Grant funds also will be used to
support community outreach activities.
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 1 Brownfields Team
(617)918-1424
EPA Region 1 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/regionl/bro wnfields)
Grant Recipient: Montachusett Regional Planning
Commission,MA
(978) 345-7376 ext 302
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)
EPA 560-F-09-034
May 2009
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