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Brownfields 2001 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
West Springfield, MA
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 Town of West Springfield for a
Brownfields Pilot. Located in western Massachusetts,
West Springfield (population 27,537) is a densely
populated urban area bordering the Connecticut River, an
American Heritage River. The West Springfield Trade
Center property, an old five-acre industrial complex, is
the targeted Pilot property. This property, which is in the
middle of the Merrick industrial area, is characterized by
many contaminated facilities and inadequate roadways.
The majority of nearby residents earn less than 80
percent of the median income in West Springfield.
The Pilot property is attractive to businesses that need
easy interstate highway access for customer use and
transportation of materials. However, contamination
concerns and inadequate roads in the area have stalled
redevelopment. The city is taking parcels for
non-payment of back taxes with the intent of
redeveloping them. The combination of low-income
neighborhoods and a deteriorating industrial complex
sets the stage for needed investment in site assessment
and cleanup in the Pilot area.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 04/01/2001
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets several city-owned parcels
on the West Springfield Trade Center property which
is located within an economically depressed
industrial area.
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: West Springfield, MA
(413)263-3044
Objectives
The city's long-term objective is to recapture and renew
this area through brownfields cleanup, land-use and
traffic changes, economic development, and housing
development. As part of this objective, the Pilot will
initiate an environmental assessment of several of West
Springfield Trade Center properties and resolve barriers
to cleanup.
Activities
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
•	Evaluating ownership and liability issues of
parcels on the Trade Center property;
•	Conducting Phase I and Phase II environmental
site assessments of parcels and rights-of-way that
are owned, or about to be owned, by the city;
•	Designing cleanup plans; and
•	Implementing community involvement in the
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-01-273
Apr 01

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Pilot area.
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-01-273
Apr 01

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