Brownfields 2005 Grant Fact Sheet

Ingham County Brownfield Redevelopment 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, 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 Ingham County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for a brownfields assessment grant. Petroleum funds will be used to develop a community-wide brownfields inventory, support public outreach activities, complete ten Phase I and II environmental site assessments, and develop remediation plans for up to two sites. The focus will be on abandoned properties in downtown and central business districts of the county.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Ingham County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (ICBRA) was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Ingham County (population 279,320) has a history of successful economic development in its urban and rural communities, largely based on automobile and other manufacturing industries in mid-Michigan. The erosion of these industries has left the county with abandoned and blighted properties that have deterred private investment. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality lists 67 known sites in the county impacted by hazardous materials and leaking underground storage tanks. There also are several suspected sites not included on the list. The county's poverty rate is approximately 15 percent. The social, economic, and health problems associated with disinvestment trends are especially severe for the residents of the low-income housing adjacent to industrial operations in the targeted communities. The ICBRA includes all of the cities, villages, and townships (total population 113,667) in the county, except Lansing and East Lansing. By assessing the brownfields properties, the ICBRA expects to lower the risk profile of the impacted properties and induce developers to put some of these sites back on the tax rolls. This will improve the fiscal strength of the municipalities and reduce demand for greenfield redevelopment.

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: Ingham County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, MI
517-676-7285

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