Brownfields 2004 Grant Fact Sheet

Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, MI

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
$200,000 for petroleum

EPA has selected the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority for a brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substance funds will be used to conduct a site inventory, perform Phase I and II and baseline environmental assessments, prepare redevelopment plans, and conduct outreach in southwest Detroit and the West Detroit Riverfront. Petroleum grant funds will be used to conduct a site inventory, Phase I and II and baseline environmental assessments, redevelopment planning, and outreach for sites in the same target area.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Detroit (population 1 million) has several federal Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC). A significant portion of the West Detroit Riverfront area in southwest Detroit is in a federal EZ. The population of southwest Detroit near the project area is about 80,000. Detroit's poverty rate is 26 percent, 16 percent higher than that of the state, and minorities make up 88 percent of the population. International trade is expected to double over the next 15 years, and exert great pressure on an already distressed riverfront community with aging infrastructure and many brownfields. Detroit alone has thousands of abandoned and vacant properties, many of which are along the Detroit River, an American Heritage River. In addition, over 2,000 brownfields exist in Wayne county.

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 5 Brownfields Team
312-886-7576
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/

Grant Recipient: Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, MI
313-331-3842

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