I jBt; | Brownfields 2006 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet Boston, MA 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 City of Boston was selected to receive two brownfields assessment grants. Boston (population 589,141) has been a center of commerce and industrial manufacturing for over 200 years. The city has targeted four neighborhoods for assessment activities: Roxbury, Hyde Park, East Boston, and Dorchester. These areas have minority populations ranging from 39 to 87 percent, and poverty rates ranging from 10.4 to 27.1 percent. Two of the neighborhoods are located in a federally designated Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community. The city has 2,000 brownfields parcels in its inventory that are typically in lower-income communities. In the four target neighborhoods, brownfields inhibit redevelopment and growth through actual or perceived environmental contamination. The city has acquired a number of abandoned commercial parcels in these areas through tax foreclosure and intends to work with the communities to determine cleanup and reuse priorities. The revitalized brownfields will be used for commercial and industrial purposes. Brownfields redevelopment will create jobs, mitigate environmental hazards, increase the tax base, generate new businesses, and promote economic revitalization. Assessment Grants $200,000 for hazardous substances $200,000 for petroleum EPA has selected the City of Boston for two brownfields assessment grants. Hazardous substances and petroleum grant funds will be used to conduct Phase I and II environmental site assessments, community outreach, and site prioritization in the Boston communities of Roxbury, Hyde Park, East Boston, and Dorchester. 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/bro wnfields ) Grant Recipient: City of Boston,MA (617)635-0103 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 560-F-06-008 Protection Agency Response (5105T) May 2006 Washington, DC 20450 Kesponse (si us ) ------- |