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Brownfields 1999 Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Fact Sheet
City of Columbia, SC
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
Columbia is the State of South Carolina's largest city by
population (just over 110,000 residents) and land area.
The City has a 46 percent minority population, and 21
percent live below the poverty level. Abandoned or
underutilized properties in the City include former steel
fabrication plants, rail yards and rail spurs, cotton mills
and warehouses. Known and perceived environmental
contamination have restrained private sector restoration,
and continues to hamper the full economic use of the
City's resources. Columbia, jointly with the City of
Sumter, was designated as an Empowerment Zone.
Columbia is a Brownfields Assessment Demonstration
Pilot.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/25/1999
Amount: $500,000
Profile: Sites identified by the Brownfields
Assessment Demonstration Pilot and sites with in the
Empowerment Zone
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 4 Brownfields Team
(404) 562-8792
EPA Region 4 Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/region4/waste/bf)
Grant Recipient: City of Columbia,SC
(803) 988-8040
Objectives
The City's BCRLF goal is to enhance community
involvement, create jobs, and transform Columbia into a
thriving community bustling with 24-hour residential,
commercial, and retail activities. The BCRLF is seen as
a catalyst for redevelopment through the removal of
environmental contamination and barriers, and as a tool
to encourage public-private partnerships in brownfields
redevelopment. The BCRLF will give special emphasis
to sites identified by the Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot and in Empowerment Zone areas.
Activities
Fund Structure and Operations
The City, serving as the lead agency, will contract with
the South Carolina Department of Health and
Environmental Control to obtain assistance in carrying
out its site management responsibilities. The City's
Community Development Department, with an
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extensive history of managing similar revolving loan
funds, such as the Commercial Revolving Loan Fund,
the Housing Revolving Loan Fund, and Community
Development Block Grants funds, will serve as fund
manager.
The City will make efforts to attract private investment
to BCRLF projects. Similar loan funds in Columbia
have led to a 4:1 ratio of private to public dollars. The
existence of other Federal redevelopment programs,
including the EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot and the establishment of a HUD
Empowerment Zone in the Cities of Columbia and
Sumter, also will complement the BCRLF. In addition,
the City will couple the BCRLF with its Commercial
Revolving Loan Fund and CDBG funds to address
cleanup and development goals.
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-99-060
May 99

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