I 4B| Brownfields 2010 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
Dakota County, MN
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. In 2002,
the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act was passed to help states and
communities around the country cleanup and revitalize
brownfields sites. Under this 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
Dakota County was selected to receive two brownfields
assessment grants. A suburb of the Minneapolis-Saint
Paul metropolitan area, Dakota County (population
410,000) has a legacy of heavy industrial land uses and
associated pollution and blight. The state lists more than
5,600 sites of environmental significance in the county.
Since 2000, the county has identified more than 1,600
dump sites ranging from farm dumps to extensive
industrial dumps, and more than 90 methamphetamine
labs. Contaminated sites are disproportionately
concentrated in areas with the highest number of minority
residents and the highest levels of economic stress,
particularly in older industrialized cities such as
Burnsville and West Saint Paul. The number of
schoolchildren in families eligible for free or
reduced-price meals has increased since 2000 to 19
percent of families in the county, and the number of
homes in foreclosure has increased by 900 percent since
2000. Economic conditions have resulted in reductions in
revenue for the county from sales and property taxes.
Assessment of brownfields will help advance the goals
and principles of the county"s Comprehensive Land Use
Plan and is expected to leverage private investment in
redevelopment.
Assessment Grants
$200,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected Dakota County for two
brownfields assessment grants. Community-wide
hazardous substances grant funds will be used to
conduct a brownfields inventory and perform up
to 10 Phase I and approximately five Phase II
environmental site assessments. Grant funds also
will be used to develop cleanup plans for two sites
and conduct community outreach activities.
Petroleum grant funds will be used to conduct the
same tasks at 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/R5Brownfiel ds)
Grant Recipient: Dakota County, Minnesota
952-891-7532
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 56°-F"1 °"114
Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	April 2010
Washington, DC 20450	Kesponse (si us )

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