Brownfields 2010 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
               Duluth, MN
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

The City of Duluth was selected to receive two
brownfields assessment grants. Duluth (population
86,918) is located on the western tip of Lake Superior
along the St. Louis River estuary. Historically, Duluth's
economic base relied on Great Lakes shipping, linked rail
transportation, and steel and associated manufacturing.
Many industries left Duluth in the 1970s and 1980s,
leaving behind acres of vacant and underused land,
increased unemployment, and a legacy of pollution. The
area targeted for assessments is the St. Louis River/Lake
Superior Shoreline Corridor Project Area, which covers
87 percent of the industrial land in the city. It has some of
the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the city,
and contains many underused and vacant properties with
unknown environmental contamination. Lake Superior,
which provides the city's drinking water supply, is
susceptible to the discharge of contaminants from target
area sites. Brownfield assessments will enable the city to
prepare cleanup plans for priority sites, which is expected
to help secure funding for cleanup and redevelopment.
                     Assessment Grants

                     $200,000 for hazardous substances
                     $200,000 for petroleum

                     EPA has selected the City of Duluth for two
                     brownfields assessment grants. Community-wide
                     hazardous substances grant funds will be used to
                     conduct five to six Phase I and two to five Phase II
                     environmental site assessments and develop one to
                     two cleanup plans. Grant funds also will be used to
                     support community outreach activities. Petroleum
                     grant funds will be used to perform the same tasks
                     at sites with potential petroleum contamination.
                     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: City of Duluth, Minnesota
                     (218) 730-5324

                     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-10-201
      May 2010

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