Brownfields 2005 Grant Fact Sheet

Bucks County Redevelopment Authority, PA

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.

CLEANUP GRANT

$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority for a brownfields cleanup grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up hazardous substances, including volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, and arsenic, at the Riverfront South Bensalem site at 2375 State Road in Bensalem Township. Funds also will be used for public health monitoring at the site, and community notification and outreach.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Bucks County Redevelopment Authority was selected to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. The county has a population of 587,635, of whom 58,434 live in the target area around the Riverfront South Bensalem cleanup site. This area has been home to many great industrial giants, which have downsized or discontinued their operations in the last 20 years. Poverty and unemployment rates in the area are among the county's highest, in some cases two to three times the county rate. These economic downturns have resulted in blighted conditions and rapidly dilapidating and unused structures in the community, including at least 32 brownfield properties. From 1917 to 1999, the 26-acre cleanup site, located along the Delaware River, was the location of various industries, including shipbuilding, warehousing, and chemical blending and manufacturing. Cleanup of the site will remediate contaminated land, eliminate blight, and reduce threats to human health and the environment. Redevelopment of the site as a mixed-use area, including housing, office and retail space, restaurants, and greenspace, will create jobs, increase tax revenues, and serve as a catalyst to bring other brownfield sites in the area back into productive reuse. It also will allow access to the passive and active recreation available along the Delaware River riverfront.

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 3 Brownfields Team
215-814-3129
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bfs/index.htm

Grant Recipient: Bucks County Redevelopment Authority, PA
215-781-8711

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