Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

City and County of Denver, CO

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.

ASSESSMENT GRANT

$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City and County of Denver for a brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to review Phase I environmental site assessments, prepare work plans, and conduct four Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to conduct community outreach activities.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City and County of Denver was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Located in central Colorado, Denver (population of 544,116) is targeting seven areas for assessment in order to move forward with plans to create Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Centers. Some of these areas are in federally designated Enterprise Communities. TOD Centers are part of a city initiative to build 119 new miles of commuter and light rail systems within the metropolitan region by 2016. Creation of TOD centers is expected to lead to further mixed-use redevelopment in surrounding areas, thereby bringing new investment to economically distressed areas and improving linkages between the TOD centers, the surrounding neighborhoods, and the city's economic core. Brownfields redevelopment will help develop affordable housing, prevent human health problems, create new job opportunities, and improve transportation.

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 8 Brownfields Team
303-312-6757
http://www.epa.gov/region08/land_waste/bfhome/bfhome.html

Grant Recipient: City and County of Denver, CO
720-865-5457

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