Brownfields 2003 Grant Fact Sheet

St. Louis Development Corporation, MO

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

$200,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the St. Louis Development Corporation for a brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substances funds will be used to conduct environmental assessments at a 40-acre site that has been used for iron and steel manufacturing, natural gas production, and coke oven/coal gasification; and at a 35-acre site with abandoned gas stations, dumps, and debris from demolished buildings that is contaminated with a mix of petroleum, metal, arsenic, lead, and other contaminants. Petroleum funds will be used to conduct assessments at sites that have been involuntarily acquired through tax delinquency proceedings and that are suspected of petroleum contamination.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The St. Louis Development Corporation was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. St. Louis is a "Rust Belt" city whose industrial history has left a legacy of urban decay, population decline, and loss of the city's tax base. Nearly 15 percent of the land in the city is vacant and idle. In addition to the large number of vacant parcels and buildings, the city's population has declined by hundreds of thousands of residents in the past few decades, while the population of the metropolitan area has remained relatively constant. Thus, there has been a "hollowing out" of the area's urban core. The two large parcels targeted for assessment with grant funds are in areas suffering population loss and economic distress, yet both are ripe for redevelopment. Assessment and redevelopment of these sites is expected to create jobs and have a positive economic impact on the city as a whole.

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 7 Brownfields Team
913-551-7786
http://www.epa.gov/region7/cleanup/brownfields/index.htm

Grant Recipient: St. Louis Development Corporation, MO
314-622-3400

Prior to receipt of these funds in fiscal year 2003, the St. Louis Development Corporation has not received brownfields grant funding. The City of St. Louis has received brownfields funding for assessment, Showcase Community, 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.