Brownfields 2005 Grant Fact Sheet

Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

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.

REVOLVING LOAN FUND GRANT

$1,000,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development for a brownfields revolving loan fund grant. The grant will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund from which the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development will provide loans and subgrants to support cleanup activities for sites contaminated with petroleum substances. Grant funds also will be used to coordinate community outreach activities throughout the state.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) was selected to receive a brownfields revolving loan fund grant. The target area for this project includes the entire State of Minnesota (population 4.9 million). During 2001-2002, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency documented 1,587 brownfield sites in the state, of which only 121 have participated in the state's brownfields program. DEED estimates that there are another 1,000 sites that remain undocumented. Many of these sites are contaminated with petroleum and cannot be funded through the state's existing brownfields Revolving Loan Fund, which is limited to sites with hazardous substances contamination. In addition, many small communities around the state with petroleum cleanup needs do not have the capacity to apply for funds on their own. Enhancement of the current RLF program with additional funds to target petroleum-contaminated sites will allow Minnesota to build on its success in addressing brownfields. The state anticipates that the distribution of the petroleum requests will reflect the previous funding requests, with 30 percent for industrial; 30 percent for commercial, office, or retail; 20 percent for residential; and the remaining 20 percent for mixed-use or greenspace 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: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
651-297-4132

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