Brownfields 2009 Cleanup Grant Fact
Sheet
Georgetown, KY
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 City of Georgetown was selected to receive a
brownfields cleanup grant. Georgetown (population
21,704) is located 18 miles north of the City of Lexington
in the Blue Grass Region of central Kentucky. Land use in
the area varies from small farms and thoroughbred horse
operations, to large-scale manufacturing, including a
Toyota plant. The downtown areas of the city and their
adjacent entry corridors are impacted by the brownfields
left behind as residents and businesses chose to develop
farmlands. These blighted properties pose a health threat
to city residents and the city's primary source of water, the
Royal Springs Aquifer. Many of the sites are located in
the city's predominantly minority neighborhoods, where a
large percentage of residents live below the poverty level.
Cleanup of the Empire Pencil site will allow the city to
move forward with its plans to build a state-of-the-art law
enforcement campus on the property.
Cleanup Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances
(Recovery Act Funding)
EPA has selected the City of Georgetown for a
brownfields cleanup grant. Hazardous substances
grant funds will be used to clean up the former
Empire Pencil Factory at 550 Bourbon Street. The
site operated as a pencil factory from 1946 until
the mid-1990s, and is contaminated with heavy
metals and volatile and semi-volatile organic
compounds. 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 4 Brownfields Team
(404) 562-8792
EPA Region 4 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region4/was te/bf)
Grant Recipient: City of Georgetown, Kentucky
(502)863-9855
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-09-249
May 2009
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