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/ Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Massachusetts
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 Franklin Regional Council of
Governments (FRCOG) for a Brownfields Assessment
Pilot. FRCOG is the regional planning agency for
Franklin County, the target community. The county
encompasses 26 towns and 71,535 people in the rural
upper Connecticut River valley of western
Massachusetts. Seven of the towns border the
Connecticut River, a designated American Heritage
River. Although the valley has a strong agricultural
heritage, manufacturing represents the county's largest
employment sector. Yet, many large manufacturing
centers, including several mills and tool and die factories
that capitalized on the county's abundant hydropower and
natural resources, are in decline. Plants have closed and
left behind environmental problems that discourage the
growth of smaller, more specialized businesses. This
Pilot targets a number of identified former mill and paper
manufacturing facilities for assessment.
Towns that have historically thrived on manufacturing
are faced with vacant, industrial properties with
suspected contamination in areas adjacent to low income
neighborhoods. Population declines in the area reflect an
out-migration of the work force as a result of plant
closures and job losses. Franklin County has a per capita
income of $13,945, which is significantly lowerthan
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/01/2002
Amount: $200,000
Profile: Franklin Regional Council of Governments,
Massachusetts. The Pilot targets several brownfields
in the downtown and mill districts of an economically
depressed former New England mill town.
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: Franklin Regional Council of
Governments,MA
(413) 774-3531
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Objectives
FRCOG's overall objective is to apply a regional
approach to the identification, assessment, cleanup, and
reuse of brownfields for communities in Franklin
County that lack the capacity to undertake such a
program alone. As part of this objective, the Pilot will
inventory potential brownfields, develop site selection
criteria, involve municipalities and residents in
impacted neighborhoods, assess targeted sites, and plan
cleanup strategies.
Activities
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
•	Inventorying and mapping potential brownfield
sites in collaboration with the affected
communities;
•	Conducting six Phase I environmental site
assessments at selected sites:
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-02-058
May 02

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higher proportion of people living below the poverty
level than the state average.
•	Conducting four to six Phase II environmental
site assessments; and
•	Preparing cleanup plans for one to two 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
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
Solid Waste
EPA 500-F-02-058
May 02

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