Brownfields 2005 Grant Fact Sheet

Charleston, WV

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.

ASSESSMENT GRANT

$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the City of Charleston for a brownfields assessment grant. Grant funds will be used to conduct community outreach, inventory and rank sites, perform an estimated 12 Phase I and six Phase II environmental site assessments, and develop remedial, reuse, and greenspace plans for sites with potential petroleum contamination around the city.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Charleston was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Charleston (population 53,421), the capital of West Virginia, is located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers. It is the most populous city in the Kanawha Valley, a region with a rich history of chemical, gas, and coal production and excellent transportation access facilitated by the navigable waterways and three major interstate systems. The decline in these industries has left the city with a proliferation of abandoned and underutilized properties, and resulted in a nearly 40 percent decline in population over the past 40 years. While the poverty and unemployment rates city-wide are average, these rates go up to 67 and 18 percent, respectively, in the primarily African-American pocket communities that are disproportionately impacted by brownfields. Median household income in these communities is 22 percent of the Charleston area-wide median. Assessment and eventual cleanup of the brownfields sites will help the city in its goal of reducing public health hazards, including the high incidence of cancer, that are suspected to be related to the years of industrial environmental contamination. Redevelopment is also expected to increase the local tax base and rid the city of unsightly areas.

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: City of Charleston, WV
304-348-8035, ext. 220

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