Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

Gratiot County Brownfield Redevelopment 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 Gratiot County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority for two brownfields assessment grants. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to inventory approximately 40 sites, perform Phase I, Phase II, and baseline environmental site assessments, and conduct outreach activities for sites throughout the county. Petroleum grant funds will be used to perform the same tasks at sites with potential petroleum contamination.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Gratiot County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority was selected to receive two brownfields assessment grants. The economy of Gratiot County (population 42,503), located in central Michigan, is based on its rich agricultural lands and the manufacturing sector, especially auto parts production. The county also has a legacy of crude oil production and refining. Gratiot has been stigmatized by the presence of a Superfund site, three former refinery sites, a former sugar refinery, and numerous other sites related to its early industrialization. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has listed 27 Gratiot properties in its database of contaminated sites. There also are 339 underground storage tanks in the county. These sites are related to activities such as motor vehicle parts production, scrapyard operations, and agricultural chemical production, processing, and sales. The residents who live in the villages and cities where most of the brownfields are located have significantly lower income levels than either the state or the nation. The poverty rate in some of these communities ranges from 14 to 16 percent. The Gratiot County Master Plan and the Strategic Plan indicate the need to preserve the area's rich agricultural land that is under pressure for development. Assessment and eventual cleanup of the county's brownfields will help address the health and environmental threats posed by these sites. Reuse of these sites will help preserve valuable agricultural and greenspace and make the community a more pleasant place in which to work, live, and invest.

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: Gratiot County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, MI
989-875-2083

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