A \ Brownfields 2008 Assessment and Revolving
Loan Fund Grant Fact Sheet
Oklahoma City, OK

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 Oklahoma City was selected to receive a
brownfields assessment grant and a brownfields
revolving loan fund grant. Located in central
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City (population 537,734) is a
federally designated Empowerment Zone and
Enterprise Community. The city's brownfields efforts
will be targeted on the 19-square-mile Empowerment
Zone, which includes more than 100 of the city's 1,500
possible brownfields. Within the Empowerment Zone,
three neighborhoods have been a focus of the city's
brownfields program: the Eastside Reinvestment Area,
the Core to Shore Planning Area, and an eight-mile
stretch of the Oklahoma River. The history of the target
communities includes oil and gas exploration, scrap
metal facilities, and chemical companies.
Contamination from these activities has made much of
the groundwater unusable. In the target area, 40 percent
of residents live in poverty, 61.2 percent are minorities,
and 12 percent are unemployed. Assessment of
brownfields is expected to create incentives for
redevelopment and leverage additional investment in
the city's Empowerment Zone. When brownfields in the
Empowerment Zone are cleaned up through the RLF
grant, the city plans to focus on residential, commercial,
and mixed-use redevelopment in the urban core. Other
Assessment Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City of Oklahoma City for a
brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substances
grant funds will be used to conduct about nine Phase
I and five Phase II environmental site assessments in
the city's Empowerment Zone. Grant funds also will
be used to support community outreach activities.
Revolving Loan Fund Grant
$2,000,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City of Oklahoma City for a
brownfields revolving loan fund grant. The grant
will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund from
which the City of Oklahoma City will provide loans
and subgrants to support cleanup activities for sites
contaminated with hazardous substances. Grant
funds also will be used to conduct cleanup planning
and oversight and support community outreach
activities. Coalition partners include Oklahoma
County and the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal
Authority.
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 6 Brownfields Team
(214) 665-6780
EPA Region 6 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region6/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: City of Oklahoma City
(405) 297-1639
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.
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-08-159
Mar 08

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plans include a park, downtown boulevard, and
greenweb of open space in the Core to Shore area.
Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are
subject to change.
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Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 560-F-08-159
j. j.- a	ancl Emergency	..
Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	Mar 08
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