Brownfields  2003 Assessment  Grant Fact Sheet
               Johnstown, PA
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 City of Johnstown was selected to receive an
assessment grant. The City of Johnstown (population
24,000) grew up around the coal and steel industries,
which have since declined and left the land-locked city
with large abandoned and contaminated properties. The
state designated Johnstown as a Distressed Community in
1992. The city has developed a Recovery Plan that
provides the means to stop the constant out-migration that
resulted from the loss of 20,000 coal and steel jobs in the
region. The Recovery Plan includes the cleanup of
contaminated properties to allow development of a
Downtown Renaissance Project and a new high-tech
business incubator. The city plans to reuse steel mill
buildings to preserve the city's historical heritage as a
center of steelmaking, including possible reuse of these
buildings as research and development centers for new
products manufactured from recycled machinery.
                     Assessment Grant

                     $200,000 for hazardous substances

                     EPA has selected the City of Johnstown for a
                     brownfields assessment grant. Grant funds will be
                     used to conduct Phase I and Phase II assessments
                     at abandoned steel mill facilities. Grant funds also
                     will be used for public health monitoring,
                     community outreach, and redevelopment planning.
                     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 3 Brownfields Team
                     (215)814-3129
                     EPA Region 3 Brownfields Web  site
                     (http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bf -Ir)

                     Grant Recipient: City of Johnstown,PA
                     (814)535-6564

                     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-03-114
      June 2003

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