Brownfields 2004 Grant Fact Sheet

Schenectady County, NY

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
$150,000 for petroleum

EPA has selected Schenectady County for a brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to refine and prioritize an inventory of brownfields sites that is currently being assembled, and perform ten Phase I site assessments and approximately six Phase II site assessments for sites in the 92-square-mile area that corresponds to the boundaries of the Great Flats Aquifer. Petroleum grant funds will be used to perform at least ten Phase I site assessments and five Phase II site assessments at sites with potential petroleum contamination. Funds will also be used to form a brownfields task force, and encourage community participation.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

Schenectady County was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Schenectady County (population 146,555) is located approximately ten miles northwest of Albany. With the completion of the Erie Canal in 1823, the county, centrally positioned along a major transportation corridor, attracted significant industrial development. From the 1960s on, with the closure and downsizing of the region's industrial base, the retail and transportation industries declined in the county, as did its population. From 1982 to 2000, employment in the manufacturing industries in the county decreased by approximately 50 percent. The decline in the economy has produced a poverty rate of almost 11 percent. The City of Schenectady is a federally designated Renewal Community and part of a Capital Region Enterprise Community. The numerous abandoned and underutilized parcels associated with the region's industrial heritage not only impose economic hardship on the county, but also contribute to crime and a decrease in the quality of life. Assessment and redevelopment of the region's brownfields sites are expected to facilitate economic recovery, improve the quality of life through recreational reuse of some of the sites, and protect the area's sole source aquifer.

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 2 Brownfields Team
212-637-4314
http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/brownfields/

Grant Recipient: Schenectady County, NY
518-386-2225

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