Brownfields 2004 Grant Fact Sheet

Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma

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, the President 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

EPA has selected the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma for a brownfields assessment grant. Grant funds will be used to conduct community outreach and perform a Phase II environmental assessment, including a USGS hydrology assessment, at two contiguous properties. Once cleaned up, the 21-acre site, which formerly was a pipe supply business, will become part of the 33-acre Red Hills planned-community redevelopment in Tecumseh.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. The target site is located in the Absentee Shawnee Tribal Service Area (tribal population 2,951), which serves portions of five central Oklahoma counties. The area's unemployment rate is 13.2 percent, and the poverty rate is 15 percent. Birth and unemployment rates in the five-county service area continue to grow, while job opportunities decline. As a result of the downturn in the region's oil industry, the pipe supply business declined, leaving the community with a large, blighted site located near the area's primary water source. The site, contaminated with hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum, poses a threat to human health and the environment. Redevelopment is expected to bring 90 new jobs for area residents, help preserve wetlands, improve the landscape at a major highway intersection, and increase property values through investment in the community and stimulation of small business development. The housing component of the planned community will offer assisted living options, multi-generational housing, and single-family housing in an attractive "sense-of-place" lakefront community.

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 6 Brownfields Team
214-665-2180
http://www.epa.gov/region6/brownfields

Grant Recipient: Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
405-275-4030

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