Brownfields  2009 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
    ™          Cuyahoga County, OH
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. In 2002,
the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act was passed to help states and
communities around the country cleanup and revitalize
brownfields sites. Under this 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

Cuyahoga County was selected to receive a brownfields
assessment coalition grant. The county's coalition partners
are the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga
County Port Authority.  Cuyahoga County (population
1,295,958) is located in northern Ohio along the shores of
Lake Erie. It is an industrial county that has struggled
economically in recent years. Between 2000 and 2006,
the county lost over 45,000 manufacturing jobs. The
poverty rate in Cleveland is nearly 30 percent. In
Cleveland alone, there are between 10,000 and 25,000
vacant and abandoned properties. Many additional
brownfields are scattered throughout the county.
Brownfield assessments will quantify environmental
contamination and risks to human health and the
environment at priority sites. They also will help the
county plan for cleanups necessary to reduce these risks,
which are expected to lower existing barriers to
redevelopment of brownfields.
                     Assessment Grant

                     $1,000,000 for hazardous substances

                     EPA has selected Cuyahoga County for a
                     brownfields assessment coalition grant.
                     Community-wide hazardous substances grant
                     funds will be used to conduct between 20 and 30
                     Phase I and between 15 and 20 Phase II
                     environmental site assessments. Petroleum grant
                     funds will be used to conduct from 10 to 15
                     environmental site assessments that comply with
                     Bureau of Underground Storage Tank regulations.
                     Assessments will focus on two target areas, the
                     City of Cleveland and the Cleveland Port's
                     International Trade District, and the remainder of
                     the county. Grant funds also will be used for
                     health monitoring and 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 5 Brownfields Team
                     (312)886-7576
                     EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site
                     (http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfiel ds)

                     Grant Recipient: Cuyahoga County,OH
                     (216) 698-2574

                     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)
EPA560-F-09-179
      May 2009

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