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Brownfields 2006 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet

Columbia, SC

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 Columbia was selected to receive two
brownfields assessment grants. Columbia (population
116,278) is the state capital and largest city in South
Carolina. In recent years, sections of the city with high
concentrations of historic buildings have experienced a
renaissance. However, this revitalization has not reached
the disadvantaged Empowerment Zone communities or
the East Central City and Eau Claire/North Columbia
communities. In these neighborhoods, minority
populations make up more than 80 percent of residents as
compared to 51 percent and 25 percent for the city and
state, respectively. Approximately 35 percent of
target-area families live below the poverty level, and the
unemployment rate is twice the national average. These
neighborhoods are home to priority brownfields sites,
including an abandoned airplane hangar, former brass
plating and laundry facilities, blighted former service
stations, vacant lots, and boarded-up homes. These
numerous brownfields, scattered throughout the
neighborhoods and lining major arteries, have
discouraged new investment and business expansion in
the area. Assessment and eventual cleanup of the
brownfields properties are expected to help remove such
impediments, create jobs and opportunities for local
residents, provide much needed services to the
neighborhoods, and spur additional economic

Assessment Grants

$200,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum

EPA has selected the City of Columbia for two
brownfields assessment grants. Hazardous
substances grant funds will be used to conduct
public involvement activities, inventory sites,
perform environmental site assessments, monitor
the health of citizens near selected sites, and
develop cleanup and redevelopment plans for
affected neighborhoods, focusing primarily on the
city's Empowerment Zone. Petroleum grant funds
will be used to perform the same tasks at sites with
potential petroleum contamination, especially in
the East Central City and Eau Claire/North
Columbia communities.

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 4 Brownfields Team
(404) 562-8792

EPA Region 4 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region4/was te/bf)

Grant Recipient: City of Columbia, SC
(803)545-3041

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-06-086
May 2006

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development in the surrounding communities.

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Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 560-F-06-086

Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	May 2006

Washington, DC 20450	Kesponse (si us )

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