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Brownfields 2006 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
Marianas Public Lands Authority, Northern Mariana Islands
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. 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.
Community Description
The Marianas Public Lands Authority (MPLA) was
selected to receive two brownfields assessment grants.
The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
(CNMI) consists of 14 islands with a total land area of
183.5 square miles. Its largest island, Saipan, lies 3,300
miles west of Honolulu, Hawaii. Since becoming a
commonwealth of the U.S. in 1976, the CNMI
(population 69,221) experienced a population boom.
Today, more than 56 percent of CNMI residents are
non-U.S. citizens. The per capita income is $9,151, and
46 percent of residents live below the poverty level.
The unemployment rate is nearly 16 percent. The
MPLA identified 15 potential brownfields sites under
its control, ten of which are petroleum sites. A 2003
survey of the Marpi Village Homestead brownfield site
indicates that unexploded ordnance is scattered across
the 153-acre site. Assessment and eventual cleanup of
the islands' brownfields properties will help protect
groundwater, a highly valuable and limited resource on
the islands, and open up attractive opportunities for
investment and redevelopment. New businesses on
these sites are expected to create jobs and increase the
tax base. Assessment and eventual cleanup of the
currently underutilized Marpi Village Homestead site
will allow the islands to proceed with plans to grant
lands to over 500 indigenous individuals and families
Assessment Grants
$350,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the Marianas Public Lands
Authority for two brownfields assessment grants.
Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to
perform Phase I and Phase II environmental site
assessments, conduct community outreach activities
in the respective languages of the ethnically diverse
population of the islands, and develop cleanup plans
for the 153-acre Marpi Village Homestead site.
Petroleum grant funds will be used to perform ten
Phase I and two Phase II environmental site
assessments, conduct community outreach activities
in the respective languages of the ethnically diverse
population of the islands, and inventory brownfields
sites with potential petroleum contamination around
the Mariana Islands.
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: Marianas Public Lands
Authority,MP
(670) 234-3751
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
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-06-192
May 06

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