Brownfields 2005 Grant Fact Sheet

North Richmond Community Housing Development Corporation, CA

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 GRANTS

$600,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the North Richmond Community Housing Development Corporation for three brownfields cleanup grants. Grant funds will be used to clean up the six-acre Oishi, 1.2-acre Endo, and 6.4-acre Sakai Nurseries in the Pullman/Park Plaza area of Richmond. Soils at all three sites are contaminated with pesticides and lead. In addition, both the soil and groundwater at the Oishi and Endo sites are contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The North Richmond Community Housing Development Corporation was selected to receive three brownfields cleanup grants. The City of Richmond (population 100,000) is located north of Oakland and east of San Francisco. Richmond once had a strong industrial base that included shipyards and many operating oil refineries. With the end of World War II and the loss of shipyard work to foreign competition, Richmond was left with vast tracks of substandard housing, built to accommodate the original influx of workers, and the accompanying social and economic distress, indicated by low incomes, chronic unemployment, and vacant, boarded up buildings. The Richmond shore is ringed with petroleum oil refineries that have resulted in serious environmental problems. The low-income, largely minority residents of the area have little power or influence to deal with these problems. Cleanup of the Oishi, Endo, and Sakai Nursery sites in the Pullman/Park Plaza area will help remove the threats to human health and environment, and allow the area to be redeveloped with a mix of rental and owner-occupied affordable and market-rate housing. This redevelopment will strengthen the neighborhood's economic base and the city's tax base.

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 9 Brownfields Team
415-972-3188
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.html

Grant Recipient: Community Housing Development Corporation of North Richmond, CA
510-412-9290

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