Brownfields 2004 Grant Fact Sheet

Laurinburg, NC

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.

CLEANUP GRANT

$100,000 for hazardous substances
$100,000 for petroleum

EPA has selected the City of Laurinburg for a brownfields cleanup grant. The cleanup grant will be used to clean up petroleum and hazardous substances contamination on the 5.3-acre former Scotland Memorial Hospital site. A site investigation carried out under a brownfields assessment grant revealed three areas of concern: a former underground storage tank area with two 15,000-gallon tanks that were used for fuel oil and one of unknown size that held diesel, combustion-related contaminants around the former incinerator, and asbestos within the hospital building itself.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Laurinburg (population 15,874) was selected to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. Over the past few years, Laurinburg has been losing its manufacturing base as plants have closed or moved overseas. About 43 percent of the city's population is minority, and the city's poverty rate is about 20 percent. The former Scotland Memorial Hospital blights a residential downtown neighborhood where it has been closed and vacant for more than 20 years. The city plans to eliminate environmental concerns about the property so that it can be redeveloped in cooperation with the Richmond Community College into a regional vocational training facility with a public park and greenspace.

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 4 Brownfields Team
404-562-8493
http://www.epa.gov/region4/waste/bf/index.htm

Grant Recipient: Laurinburg, NC
910-276-825

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