s OA Brownfields 1999 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
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/ Naco Fire District, Arizona
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 awarded the Naco Fire District supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration
Pilot. Naco is located on the Mexican border and is an
unincorporated town of about 750 people, 90 percent of
whom are Hispanic. The unemployment rate is more than
triple that of the surrounding county. Historically, Naco
was a cattle processing center. Although cattle dipping
occurred on the Mexican side of the border, a suspected
source of environmental concern is the pesticide residues
from cattle operations on the U.S. side. Another likely
source of pollution has been the frequent flooding of
household and industrial waste from a defective waste
treatment plant across the border. The perception of a
disproportionately high burden of potential
environmental hazards has reduced Naco's quality of life
relative to other border communities.
The original Pilot completed Phase I and II
environmental assessments on a 2.5-acre parcel of an
agribusiness site and an adjoining property contaminated
by flood waters and an abandoned cattle processing area.
Supplemental funds will be used to define possible
environmental contamination and conduct cleanup
planning at the site of Naco's new middle school that may
have copper mine tailings on site, a new business area
that will be near a new railroad and pedestrian border
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/01/2002
Amount: $150,000
Profile: The Pilot targets three potentially
contaminated sites in east Naco that are needed for a
school, border crossing, and shops in a community
with high unemployment.
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 9 Brownfields Team
(415)972-3091
EPA Region 9 Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/region9/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Naco Fire District, Arizona
(520)432-7040
Objectives
The supplemental assistance will be used to assess
environmental conditions at three sites designated for
reuse as public facilities, including a school, new border
crossing facility for foot traffic, shops and transportation
service facilities, and expanded recreational areas. The
Pilot areas are near or adjacent to the original Pilot site
in east Naco. Involvement of community and citizens
groups, county authorities, and Arizona State University
are expected to continue through the supplemental grant
period.
Activities
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
•	Conducting Phase I and II environmental
assessments at three potentially contaminated
sites in east Naco; and
•	Conducting public outreach and involvement to
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-02-112
May 02

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crossing that is downgrade of former cattle operations,
and a truck stop on the northern edge of the original Pilot
site. With international assistance, Mexico has built a
modern industrial wastewater treatment facility that
should prevent future spills on the U.S. side of the border.
ensure participation in the cleanup and
redevelopment process.
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-02-112
j. j.- a	ancl Emergency	.. __
Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	MaV02
Washington, DC 20450	^ v '

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Brownfields 1999 Supplemental Assessment
Pilot Fact Sheet
Naco, AZ
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 Naco Fire District for a
Brownfields Pilot. Naco (population 748) is a rural,
unincorporated town in Cochise County. The town is 80
percent Hispanic with a 28 percent unemployment rate.
Naco, Arizona is directly across the border from Naco,
Sonora-Mexico, and the two cities have worked together
on regional issues over the years and are recognized as a
model for cross-border cooperation.
The Pilot targets 260 acres directly across the border
from Naco, Sonora-Mexico. From the 1930s until the
1980s, the area was a major agribusiness route for the
processing and shipping of cattle between Mexico and
the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture
required that all cattle coming into the United States be
treated with pesticides, such as DDT, chlordane, and
heptachlor. Thus the site contains former cattle dip vats
contaminated with pesticides, as well as a large number
of dead animals, trash, and other buried waste. In
addition, as the Mexican city of Naco grew, its waste
treatment plant did not, and became overburdened and
unable to handle the high volume of raw sewage and
industrial waste water. Frequent breakdowns resulted in
overflows of the system, which poured sewage over the
border onto the U.S. crossing site. Since the border
crossing closed in the late 1980s, these spills have
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 06/21/1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets 260 acres along the U.S.
border with Mexico, formerly used as a major
agribusiness cattle crossing facility.
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 9 Brownfields Team
(415)972-3091
EPA Region 9 Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/region9/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Naco Fire District, Arizona
(520)432-7040
i c

A t- t
Objectives
The Pilot seeks to facilitate cleanup of the targeted areas
so that potential risks are removed and the properties
can be transformed into productive use. Through
cooperation from the communities, cities, counties, and
emergency response teams on both sides of the border,
Naco, Sonora has received funding to build a new
treatment plant scheduled for completion in late 1999.
Eliminating the threat of flooding opens up the U.S.
border-crossing brownfields site to redevelopment
opportunities. Local stakeholders, such as county
authorities, community members, non-governmental
organizations, and citizen groups have identified the
environmental assessment of the site as the first step in
the area's overall redevelopment process. Initial
redevelopment plans include retail shops and restaurants
incorporated in at least one shopping center, and light
industrial facilities. The Pilot will initiate the
revitalization efforts by assessing the environmental
contamination from the site's former cattle pens and
agribusiness activity
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-99-160
Jun 99

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The exact nature and extent of the contamination from
the dip vats and the waste treatment plant at the
brownfields site is unknown.
Activities
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
•	Performing Phase I and II assessments at the
260-acre site on the U.S. side of the border;
•	Creating a cleanup and redevelopment plan for
the area; and
•	Conducting community involvement 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	c
Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 500-F-99-160
_ . .	and Emergency	.
Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	Jun 99
Washington, DC 20450	^ v '

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