Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

Marianas Public Lands Authority, Northern Mariana Islands

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

$350,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the Marianas Public Lands Authority for two brownfields assessment grants. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to perform Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, conduct community outreach activities in the respective languages of the ethnically diverse population of the islands, and develop cleanup plans for the 153-acre Marpi Village Homestead site. Petroleum grant funds will be used to perform ten Phase I and two Phase II environmental site assessments, conduct community outreach activities in the respective languages of the ethnically diverse population of the islands, and inventory brownfields sites with potential petroleum contamination around the Mariana Islands.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Marianas Public Lands Authority (MPLA) was selected to receive two brownfields assessment grants. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) consists of 14 islands with a total land area of 183.5 square miles. Its largest island, Saipan, lies 3,300 miles west of Honolulu, Hawaii. Since becoming a commonwealth of the U.S. in 1976, the CNMI (population 69,221) experienced a population boom. Today, more than 56 percent of CNMI residents are non-U.S. citizens. The per capita income is $9,151, and 46 percent of residents live below the poverty level. The unemployment rate is nearly 16 percent. The MPLA identified 15 potential brownfields sites under its control, ten of which are petroleum sites. A 2003 survey of the Marpi Village Homestead brownfield site indicates that unexploded ordnance is scattered across the 153-acre site. Assessment and eventual cleanup of the islands' brownfields properties will help protect groundwater, a highly valuable and limited resource on the islands, and open up attractive opportunities for investment and redevelopment. New businesses on these sites are expected to create jobs and increase the tax base. Assessment and eventual cleanup of the currently underutilized Marpi Village Homestead site will allow the islands to proceed with plans to grant lands to over 500 indigenous individuals and families for the construction of new homes.

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 9 Brownfields Team
415-972-3092
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.html

Grant Recipient: Marianas Public Lands Authority, MP
670-234-3751

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