Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee, WI

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 Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee for two brownfields assessment grants. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to perform Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments in an area where 80 percent of the city's tax-delinquent brownfields are located. Funds also will be used for community outreach activities. Petroleum grant funds will be used to perform the same tasks at sites with potential petroleum contamination.

CLEANUP GRANT

REVOLVING LOAN FUND GRANT

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee was selected to receive two brownfields assessment grants, a brownfields cleanup grant, and a brownfields revolving loan fund grant. Located in eastern Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan, Milwaukee (population 596,974) is a federally designated Renewal Community, and has at least 485 acres of brownfields. Many older manufacturing companies such as tanneries, foundries, breweries, and motor manufacturers have left the city, leaving vacant brownfields that threaten public health and the environment. Assessments will be focused on an area that contains 80 percent of the city's tax-delinquent brownfields. The unemployment rate is approximately 16 percent in this area, 89 percent of residents are minorities, and 36 percent live below the poverty level. The cleanup property is in an area where 35 percent of residents live below the poverty level, and the median household income is 43 percent of the state's median. Revolving loan fund efforts will focus on the 30th Street Industrial Corridor and the Menomonee Valley/Inner Harbor area. Between 34 percent and 39 percent of residents in these areas live below the poverty level, and more than 13 percent of residents are unemployed. When brownfields are assessed and eventually cleaned up, they will be used for residential, commercial, office, retail, mixed-use, or industrial purposes. Brownfields redevelopment will create jobs in the neighborhoods most in need, increase tax revenues, remove blight, contribute to a more vibrant downtown, and reduce air emissions.

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: Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee, WI
414-286-8268

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