Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders 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

$900,000 for hazardous substances
$100,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control for a brownfields revolving loan fund grant. The grant will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund from which the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will provide loans and subgrants to support cleanup activities at sites contaminated with petroleum and hazardous substances. Grant funds also will be used to implement community involvement activities.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control was selected to receive a brownfields revolving loan fund grant. Delaware (population 783,600) has been home to agribusiness, petroleum refining, chemical production, milling, military, and heavy industrial activities for more than 100 years. Many of these activities occurred before the enactment of environmental regulations, and the state has been significantly impacted by brownfields. Overall, 650 brownfields have been identified in Delaware, and many urban centers are underdeveloped and blighted. The largest concentration of brownfields is located in the City of Wilmington, which contains an estimated 125 sites. Wilmington, one of the state's oldest industrial cities, has a poverty rate of 21.3 percent, and pressing environmental justice issues for its minority residents, who comprise 64.5 percent of the population. After brownfields are cleaned up, they will be used for commercial and mixed-use redevelopment. Brownfields redevelopment will increase tax revenues and property values, relieve growth pressures, create jobs, increase investment, and create greenspace.

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: Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, DE
302-395-2600

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