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Brownfields 1995 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

City of Buffalo, NY

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 awarded the City of Buffalo supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration
Pilot. Economic decline and contaminated industrial sites
have negatively impacted the quality of life for Buffalo
communities. The city of 328,000 residents bears a
disproportionate number of contaminated sites-more than
60 in the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Information System
(CERCLIS) and more than 20 on the New York State
Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites. Fear
regarding possible contamination is attached to countless
other properties in the city.

Pilot Snapshot

Date of Announcement: 03/01/2000
Amount: $150,000

Profile: City of Buffalo, NY. The Pilot targets
public and private properties that have near term
development potential and are located in areas
needing revitalization.

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 2 Brownfields Team
(212) 637-4309

EPA Region 2 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region02/brownfields/)

Grant Recipient: City of Buffalo,NY
(716)851-5633

Objectives

The Pilot's objective is to use the supplemental
assistance to retain its Brownfields Manager and,
thereby, continue its activities as a cooperative effort
working to promote the safe, productive, and
appropriate reuse of the city's brownfields. This effort
will contribute to ensuring a safer, cleaner environment,
as well as creating and promoting new, high-quality
residential, commercial, and industrial acreage. The
overall strategy of the Pilot is to provide technical
assistance and support during the environmental
assessment phase of planning and development projects,
accomplished by conducting or leveraging Phase I and
Phase II assessments and more extensive environmental
investigations as warranted.

The Pilot is guided by the Buffalo Brownfields Task
Force, comprising county and city department officials;
regional state regulatory agency officials; a member of
the Interagency Working Group on Environmental

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450

Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)

EPA 500-F-00-004
Apr 00


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Justice; representatives from the city's official Buffalo
Environmental Management Commission; members of
the banking, legal, real estate, business, and university
communities; and the general public.

To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:

•	Address new sites as identified through interest
by the city's planning and development agencies;

•	Communicate Pilot activities and results to the
appropriate stakeholders for decision making on
property redevelopment; and

•	Conduct or leverage Phase I and Phase II
assessments and more extensive environmental
investigations as warranted.

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-00-004
Apr 00


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w5

Brownfields 1995 Supplemental Assessment
Pilot Fact Sheet

Buffalo, NY

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 Region 2 selected the City of Buffalo for a
Regional Brownfields Pilot. Economic decline and
contaminated industrial sites have negatively impacted
the quality of life for residents. The City of 328,000
residents bears a disproportionate number of
contaminated sites - over 60 in the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Information System (CERCLIS), as well as over 20 on
the New York State Registry of Inactive Hazardous
Waste Sites. Fear regarding possible contamination is
attached to countless other properties in the City.

Pilot Snapshot

Date of Announcement: 07/26/1995
Amount: $200,000

Profile: The Pilot targets public and private
properties that have near term development potential
and are located in areas needing revitalization.

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 2 Brownfields Team
(212) 637-4309

EPA Region 2 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region02/brownfields/)

Grant Recipient: City of Buffalo,NY
(716)851-5633

Objectives

The Buffalo Brownfields Pilot is a cooperative effort
working to promote the safe, productive, and
appropriate reuse of the City's brownfields. This effort
will contribute to ensuring a safer, cleaner environment,
as well as creating and promoting new, clean, high
quality residential, commercial, and industrial acreage.
EPA funds will help to develop a City-wide master list
of potential brownfields sites, create a database of
information, and develop a process for prioritizing sites
for further assessment and analysis. The Pilot is guided
by the Buffalo Brownfields Task Force, comprised of
County and City Department officials; regional State
regulatory agency officials; a member of the
Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice;
representatives from the City's official Buffalo
Environmental Management Commission; members of
the banking, legal, real estate, business, and university
communities; and the general public.

Activities

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450

Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)

EPA 500-F-97-046
May 97


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The Pilot has:

•	Initiated development of a geographic
information system (GIS) database. The GIS
database will allow for input and manipulation of
planning, environmental, and economic site data,
and will serve as a key information resource for
anyone interested in any property in Buffalo;

•	Prepared a detailed inventory of 22 potential
brownfields sites;

•	Completed six environmental site assessments;
and

•	Prepared a Community Outreach Plan, which is
expected to be released in mid-1997. The plan
will serve as the mechanism for informing the
public of the City's brownfields community
participation process.

The Pilot is:

•	Preparing a Brownfields Redevelopment Manual
to be available to the City, business, and
environmental communities and serve as a tool
for future development efforts;

•	Coordinating a brownfields workshop/developer
showcase to be held in 1997;

•	Improving the affected public's ability to
understand, evaluate, and fully participate in the
decision-making process;

•	Finalizing a development strategy for roughly
1,000-1,500 former industrial acres in southern
Buffalo. The Pilot will prioritize sites for
brownfields assessment. In addition, based on the
results of a Phase I environmental site
assessment, project developers are beginning
development of a conceptual plan for a property
in this area; and

•	Finalizing a development strategy for overall
brownfields redevelopment projects based on
community vision, economic development
possibilities, and health and environmental
concerns.

Experience with the Buffalo Pilot has been a catalyst for
related activities including the following.

• Assisted the assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment of the LTV Republic Steel Site. A
25-acre hydroponic tomato greenhouse will now
occupy the former industrial site on the banks of
the Buffalo River. Petroleum waste from the
LTV Republic Steel site may be recycled to
make asphalt and reduce runoff into the river.

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Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 500-F-97-046

j. i- a	ancl Emergency	..

Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	MaV97

Washington, DC 20450	^ v '


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• Assisted the assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment of the Atlas Steel site. A
16-screen cinema with a total expected
seat-capacity of 3,500, will join a restaurant,
delicatessen, and discount department store as
new occupants of the former steel plant site.

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-97-046
May 97


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