Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, MI

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 GRANTS

$200,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority for two brownfields assessment grants. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to select and inventory sites, perform Phase I and II environmental site assessments and baseline assessments, develop cleanup plans, and conduct community outreach activities at sites along the Detroit River, Rouge River, and in Southwest Detroit. Petroleum grant funds will be used to perform the same tasks at sites in the same areas with potential petroleum contamination.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority was selected to receive two brownfields assessment grants. Wayne County is a 614-square-mile largely urban landscape that includes the City of Detroit (population 1,000,000). The city has several federally designated Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities and is a Renewal Community. Eighty-eight percent of Detroit residents are minorities, and 26 percent live in poverty. The per capita income is 33 percent lower than the state per capita. It is estimated that between 1990 and 2020, Detroit will have lost 18.3 percent of its population. There are thousands of abandoned and vacant properties in Detroit, many within the targeted areas along the Detroit and Rouge Rivers and in Southwest Detroit. Southwest Detroit was once home to four auto factories, including the world's largest industrial complex, the Ford Rouge plant. The community's strategic location, bisected by rail lines, freeways, and the Rouge River, and near an international border crossing and port facilities, makes it ideal for industry and commerce. These conditions also make it vulnerable to many environmental and health hazards. The target population of more than 80,000 is impacted by poor air quality, contamination from brownfields sites, illegal dumping, and abandoned housing. Assessment and eventual cleanup of the area's brownfields properties will help reduce health risks, enable the communities to remove dangerous structures, and stop or stabilize contamination in or near waterways. Redevelopment along the riverfronts is expected to serve as a catalyst for revitalization of the broader community, with the potential of providing jobs, goods, and services to the region.

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: Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, MI
313-331-3842

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