Brownfields  2007 Assessment Grant Fact  Sheet
               /c/afto Department of Environmental Quality
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 Idaho Department of Environmental Quality was
selected to receive two brownfields assessment grants.
Idaho (population 1,466,465) includes many communities
with pockets of poverty that lack the capacity to manage
brownfields. Throughout the state, there are railroad sites,
former lumber mills,  and abandoned mining operations
that have  left communities with environmentally damaged
properties. Nearly every city and county in the state has at
least one abandoned landfill or dump, and at least one
abandoned and potentially contaminated former
petroleum storage and distribution site. There are a
minimum of 244 potentially non-regulated dump sites,
and 62  known and 294 potentially contaminated
petroleum sites in the state. Many of these sites are
situated in sensitive areas, including along riverbanks,
floodplains, natural habitats, and atop an aquifer. They
pose potential threats to area groundwater, the source of
drinking water for 97 percent of state residents. When
brownfields are assessed and cleaned up, the state
anticipates that many will be redeveloped for low-income
housing and greenspace.
                     Assessment Grants

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

                     EPA has selected the Idaho Department of
                     Environmental Quality for two brownfields
                     assessment grants. Hazardous substances grant
                     funds will be used to conduct from three to six
                     Phase I and II environmental site assessments of
                     publicly-owned abandoned landfill sites
                     throughout the state. Petroleum grant funds will be
                     used to conduct from four to seven Phase I and II
                     environmental site assessments of petroleum sites
                     throughout the state. Funds from both grants also
                     will be used for 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 10 Brownfields Team
                     (206)553-7299
                     EPA Region 10 Brownfields Web site
                     (http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/CL
                     EANUP.NSF/sites/bf)

                     Grant Recipient: Idaho Department of
                     Environmental Quality
                     (208)373-0420

                     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-07-078
      May 2007

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