Brownfields 2003 Grant Fact Sheet

Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, PA

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic development 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.

ASSESSMENT GRANT

$150,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh for a brownfields assessment grant. The redevelopment authority is focusing on the federally designated Pittsburgh/Allegheny Enterprise Community, which contains numerous underused or vacant petroleum-contaminated brownfields. Grant funds will be used to conduct assessment activities at petroleum-contaminated sites and to involve the community in the assessment and redevelopment process.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh was selected to receive an assessment grant. As a result of its industrial past, Pittsburgh has many large riverfront industrial sites and smaller-scale neighborhood industrial sites. The areas targeted for the assessment grant are in the federally designated Pittsburgh/Allegheny Enterprise Community. Poverty rates of communities in the targeted areas are as high as 25 percent. Assessment and redevelopment of the priority sites will initiate their transformation into research and office parks, new homes, and other mixed land uses. Neighborhood organizations in the targeted areas will continue to be involved in planning for the reuse of the sites and in cleanup decisions that may be necessary to spur redevelopment.

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 at: www.epa.gov/brownfields.

EPA Region 3 Brownfields Team
215-814-3129
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bfs/index.htm

Grant Recipient: Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, PA
412-255-6554

Prior to receipt of these funds in fiscal year 2003, the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh has not received brownfields grant funding. The City of Pittsburgh has received brownfields funding for assessment and revolving loan fund grants.

The cooperative agreement for this grant has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.