s jOLI Brownfields 1997 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet •v y New Bedford, MA 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 City of New Bedford as a Brownfields Pilot. New Bedford has undergone industrial changes over its history, beginning with the whaling industry that later gave way to textile and apparel manufacturing in the late 1800s. The city is working to diversify and supplement its industrial base, which has eroded due to the departure of manufacturing industries and changes in federal fishing industry policies. The city believes that the fish processing capabilities and transportation facilities in the area provide a setting with great potential for expansion of its aquaculture industry. New Bedford already has begun investigating vacant and underused industrial sites to determine their suitability for aquaculture development. The pilot will use the city's initial investigations to identify candidate sites, many of which formerly housed mill operations. Many sites may be adapted with few modifications to the aquaculture industry. Growth of the aquaculture business will help alleviate New Bedford's economic and social problems. Pilot Snapshot Date of Announcement: 04/01/1997 Amount: $172,000 Profile: The pilot will target sites that formerly supported milling or fishing operations and show potential for use in aquaculture development. 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 1 Brownfields Team (617)918-1424 EPA Region 1 Brownfields Web site (http://www.epa.gov/regionl/brownfields) Grant Recipient: City of New Bedford,MA (508) 979-1466 Objectives New Bedford's goal is to convert area brownfields into productive aquaculture sites in accordance with existing city plans. The pilot also will contribute to the Commonwealth's efforts to develop the City's aquaculture business. Pilot objectives include developing an inventory of appropriate brownfields sites, securing community input, identifying remediation costs, and documenting the process to facilitate replicability at other brownfields areas. Activities Activities planned as part of this pilot include: • Developing site selection criteria, including the tax status of the property and the remedial work required; • Evaluating potential sites for aquaculture use in accordance with the selection criteria; • Conducting environmental assessments at two sites, including drilling, field sampling, data United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105T) EPA 500-F-97-112 Apr 97 ------- analysis, and report preparation; and • Integrating site-specific data into the city's existing geographic information system. 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 Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 and Emergency Response (5105T) Solid Waste EPA 500-F-97-112 Apr 97 ------- |