Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK

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.

CLEANUP GRANTS

$400,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the Fairbanks North Star Borough for two brownfields cleanup grants. Grant funds will be used to clean up the former City of Fairbanks Landfill at 1980 Second Avenue, which is contaminated with chromium, selenium, thallium, and PCBs. The site had served as an unregulated landfill from 1951 to 1965, and later as baseball fields. Funds also will be used for community outreach activities. Grant funds also will be used to clean up the Universal Recycling, Inc., site at 400 Sanduri Street, which is contaminated with PCBs, metals, dioxins, recycled batteries, and waste oil. The site has been used as a refuse collection and recycling facility, and a waste-to-energy treatment facility.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Fairbanks North Star Borough was selected to receive two brownfields cleanup grants. Located in central Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough (population 85,930) has more than 370 open contaminated sites that pose potential threats to drinking water, soil, and groundwater. The former landfill site, targeted for cleanup, is in the depressed Chena Riverbend neighborhood where the household income is 23 percent lower than the borough's median, and the unemployment rate is 7.4 percent. Brownfields have impeded development on what should be prime real estate and the surrounding neighborhood. When the neighborhood brownfields are cleaned up, they will become part of a mixed-use development with park areas, commercial development, and housing that will serve as the western anchor for downtown. Redevelopment of the property will ensure that groundwater pollution is mitigated, and benefit the economy, environment, and health and welfare of the community. The second cleanup site, the recycling site, is close to two communities, a mobile home park, and an industrial neighborhood. In these areas, 25.6 percent of residents are minorities, and the poverty rate is more than double the borough rate. Residents of the mobile home park include children who could be exposed to contaminants while trespassing on the site. When the site is cleaned up, the borough hopes it will become viable light-industrial property. This redevelopment will create jobs, increase revenue, reduce the tax burden on the community, and address the health risks associated with the contamination.

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 10 Brownfields Team
206-553-2100
http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/CLEANUP.NSF/sites/bf

Grant Recipient: Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK
907-459-1236

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