Brownfields 1999 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission, VT



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EPA Brownfields Initiative
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.
Background
EPA has selected the Southern Windsor County Regional
Planning Commission (SWCRPC) to receive
supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot. Southern Windsor County includes
ten towns in southeastern Vermont with a total
population of 24,524. The region borders the
Connecticut River on the east, and includes most of the
Black River watershed. For much of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, the region dominated the precision
machine tool manufacturing industry, earning it the
nickname "Precision Valley." After World War II, the
machine tool industry began to decline. Between 1980
and 1990, the number of people employed in
manufacturing dropped 40 percent and every town in the
region experienced a decrease in per capita income.
These old manufacturing towns have been left with high
unemployment rates, empty buildings, and suspected
environmental contamination from a century of industrial
activity.
The original Pilot has conducted, or will soon complete,
four Phase I assessments, five Phase II assessments, and
one Phase III assessment. In addition, the SWCRPC
prepared an initial inventory of brownfields in the region,
established an ongoing community involvement
program, created a steering committee made up of
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 04/01/2001
Amount: $150,000
Profile: The Pilot targets sites in ten small towns in
the Precision Valley part of the Black River
watershed.
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 1 Brownfields Team
(617)918-1424
EPA Region 1 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/regionl/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Southern Windsor County Regional
Planning Commission,VT
(802) 674-9201
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Objectives
Supplemental assistance will be used to continue
assessments on priority sites in the region, with the goal
of developing remediation plans for high-priority sites.
Supplemental assistance will be used to conduct three
Phase I environmental site assessments, two Phase II
environmental site assessments, and three Phase III
environmental site assessments. Sites targeted for Phase
III assessments are the former Goodyear facility in
Windsor, the Precision Valley Development
Corporation site in Springfield, and the Jewell Brook
Mill in Ludlow. Supplemental assistance also will be
used for public education and outreach, continued
development of the brownfields inventory, and the
ongoing development of a strategy for reuse of
brownfields properties in the region.
Activities
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-01-318
Apr 01

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with the Vermont Department of Environmental
Conservation on site assessment activities.
•	Conducting education and outreach to residents
and other stakeholders in the ten small towns in
the region;
•	Updating the inventory of brownfields in the
region; and
•	Conducting Phase I environmental site
assessments at three sites, Phase II assessments
at two sites, and Phase III assessments at three
sites.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet
been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this
fact sheet are subject to change.
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	c
Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™ EPA 500-F-01-318
_ . .	and Emergency . _.
Protection Agency	Response (5105*0 Apr°1
Washington, DC 20450	^ v '

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/r^. Brownfields 1999 Supplemental Assessment
{^} Pilot Fact Sheet
%(	Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission, VT
EPA Brownfields Initiative
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.
Background
EPA has selected the Southern Windsor County Regional
Planning Commission for a Brownfields Pilot. The
Southern Windsor County region includes ten towns in
southeastern Vermont, with a total population of 24,524.
The region borders the Connecticut River on the east,
and includes much of the Black River watershed. For
much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the
region dominated the precision machine tool
manufacturing industry, earning it the nickname
"Precision Valley." Other important industries included
woolen, paper, and lumber mills, and munitions
manufacturing.
After World War II, the machine tool industry began to
decline. In the 1980s, several large companies made
sharp cuts in their workforces. Between 1980 and 1990,
the number of the people employed in manufacturing
dropped 40 percent, jobs in communications and public
utilities declined 30 percent, and every town in the
region experienced a per capita decrease in income.
These old manufacturing towns have been left with high
unemployment rates, empty buildings, and suspected
environmental contamination from a century of industrial
activity.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 06/21/1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets sites in ten towns within
the "Precision Valley" part of the Black River
watershed.
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 1 Brownfields Team
(617)918-1424
EPA Region 1 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/regionl/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Southern Windsor County Regional
Planning Commission,VT
(802) 674-9201
Objectives
The Pilot's objective is to encourage the cleanup and
redevelopment of idle facilities in the downtown areas
and village centers of the region's towns. The Pilot will
conduct initial assessments at up to eight sites, and will
target at least one site in the region for complete
assessment, to remove environmental and public health
threats and facilitate its cleanup and redevelopment in
keeping with the Southern Windsor County regional
plan. The redeveloped brownfield will help promote
diversification of the region's industrial base and provide
recreational access to the Connecticut River, which was
recently designated as an American Heritage River.
Activities
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
•	Developing an inventory of brownfields sites in
the region;
•	Selecting priority sites based on criteria
United States	c
Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 500-F-99-111
nil- a	ancl Emergency	.
Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	Jun 99
Washington, DC 20450	^ v '

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developed with input from the community;
•	Performing Phase I assessments at up to eight
targeted sites, performing Phase II assessments at
a maximum of two targeted sites, and completing
a Phase III assessment on at least one site; and
•	Involving the community in the site
identification, selection, and assessment
activities.
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
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
Solid Waste
EPA 500-F-99-111
Jun 99

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