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Brownfields 2006 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
Elkhart County, IN
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
Elkhart County was selected to receive two brownfields
assessment grants. Elkhart (population 191,768) is
located in northern Indiana, approximately 150 miles
north of the City of Indianapolis. The county is heavily
dependent on the manufacturing sector, which provides
41.4 percent of the jobs and 57.1 percent of the income
for Elkhart County residents. Brownfields have had a
significant impact on the county. There are 1,000 sites
within the county that may be contaminated. The
population of Elkhart County increased by
approximately 23 percent between 1990 and 2004.
More than 50 percent of the increase was in the
Hispanic/Latino community, which now constitutes
nearly 12 percent of county's population, compared to
only 4.3 percent of the state's population. A
disproportionate number of these minority residents live
in older residential neighborhoods within or adjacent to
the industrial areas where many brownfields properties
are situated. Assessment and eventual cleanup of
brownfields properties will help reduce exposure to
contaminants, eliminate unsafe structures and blight
that harm the image of neighborhoods, and preserve the
county's productive farmlands. Redevelopment is
expected to create more viable neighborhoods and
commercial corridors, expand tax and employment
bases, and make the county a more attractive place to
Assessment Grants
$200,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected Elkhart County for two
brownfields assessment grants. Hazardous
substances grant funds will be used to create and
prioritize a brownfields inventory, perform ten to 15
Phase I and three to five Phase II environmental site
assessments, and conduct community outreach
throughout the county. Petroleum grant funds will be
used to perform the same tasks for 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/R5 Brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Elkhart County,IN
(574)875-3341
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-06-100
May 06

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