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Brownfields 1999 Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Fact Sheet
Kemmerer, WY
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
Kemmerer, Wyoming, the county seat of Lincoln
County, is a rural community with approximately 3,300
residents. Lincoln County had an unemployment rate of
5.7 percent in 1998 (compared to a national rate of 4.5
percent) and per capita income of only 70 percent of the
national average. The lack of growth in Kemmerer and
Lincoln County over the last 15 years has resulted in the
accumulation of many vacant properties. Since
Kemmerer is such a small community, it plans to
coordinate its efforts with the City of Evanston,
Wyoming, also awarded a BCRLF pilot. Both
communities, although separated by 50 miles, plan to use
the same fund manager and cooperate informally.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/25/1999
Amount: $500,000
Profile: Sites within the Kemmerer/Diamondville
community, as well as Lincoln County
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 8 Brownfields Team
(303) 312-7074
EPA Region 8 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region8/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Kemmerer, WY
(307) 828-2350
Objectives
Kemmerer's BCRLF pilot will further the City's overall
brownfields objectives by encouraging the cleanup and
redevelopment of brownfields in the area. The pilot
anticipates that this activity will increase the tax base
through the revitalization of idle property, increase job
opportunities through the attraction of business/industry
to the brownfields properties, and act as a clearinghouse
for brownfields redevelopment information for other
rural communities. The primary focus of the BCRLF
program will be in the Kemmerer/Diamondville
community. A secondary focus will be Lincoln County
as a whole.
Activities
Fund Structure and Operations
The City of Kemmerer will serve as lead agency, with
the City Administrator as site manager. The City will
enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the
Lincoln-Uinta Revolving Loan Fund (LURLF) to serve
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as fund manager. LURLF, which administers an EDA
revolving loan fund and a local revolving loan fund, has
structured a variety of loan agreements to meet specific
needs of borrowers. The pilot anticipates that the first
round of loans will clean up two or three sites. In almost
all cases, below market interest rates will be charged,
with a 5 percent rate expected to be the norm. The
planned payback period is three to five years.
The City will work with LURLF, the Lincoln-Uinta
Association of Governments (LUAG), and the
Wyoming Business Council to identify other programs
that could assist brownfields redevelopers. The City will
provide grant management services and LUAG will
provide promotional materials at no charge to the
program.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of
funding also apply to BCRLF funds.
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-99-077
May 99

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