I | Brownfields 2006 Cleanup Grant Fact Sheet
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Massachusetts Highway Department, Northampton, 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 Massachusetts Highway Department was selected
to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. Located along
the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts,
Northampton (population 28,978) is the county seat for
primarily rural Hampshire County. It is a city
challenged with underemployment and low wages
rather than unemployment. Fifty-one percent of
households in Northampton are considered
economically distressed. The average wage is 59
percent of the state's average. Northampton is home to
numerous identified and suspected brownfields sites.
The proposed cleanup site, the former Staab's Service
Station, is in a mixed-use commercial and residential
neighborhood along the southern gateway to the city,
where 68 percent of households are economically
distressed. There are three low-income subsidized
housing complexes within 1,000 feet of the site. The
historic Mill River channel, a flowing stream, is a
sensitive receptor within 400 feet of the site. Petroleum
contamination from this site continues to migrate onto
adjacent privately owned parcels, as well as impacting
the viability of existing businesses, depressing property
values, and inhibiting revitalization and new
development along the corridor. Cleanup of the site will
help eliminate the potential threat from gasoline vapors
and enhance the Mill River and other private cleanup
Cleanup Grant
$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the Massachusetts Highway
Department for a brownfields cleanup grant.
Petroleum grant funds will be used to clean up a
gasoline plume at the Staab's Service Station site, a
former gas station located along Pleasant Street in
Northampton. In 1988, more than 12 inches of
free-phase gasoline was detected floating on
groundwater under the Pleasant Street roadway.
Grant funds also will be used to conduct community
outreach activities.
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/region 1 /brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Massachusetts Highway Department
(413)582-0507
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-06-010
May 06

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efforts in the neighborhood. Brownfields redevelopment
is expected to help increase the viability of existing
businesses, increase property values, and create new
jobs in this distressed community.
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