Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

Toledo and Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, OH

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 City of Toledo and Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority for two brownfields assessment grants. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to conduct community outreach activities, perform Phase I and II environmental site assessments, and prepare cleanup plans for sites in the Brownfield Impact Area of the city. Funds also will be used to investigate and evaluate the impacts of exposures on at-risk populations and to monitor institutional controls at given sites. Petroleum grant funds will be used to perform the same tasks at sites with potential petroleum contamination.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Toledo and Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority was selected to receive two brownfields assessment grants. Toledo (population 313,619) is an older industrial city in northwestern Ohio with approximately 200 brownfields sites, in addition to the city's abandoned gas stations. The vast majority of these commercial and industrial sites are located in the city's Brownfield Impact Area (BIA), an area that is home to nearly 38 percent of Toledo's residents. Twenty-six percent of residents in the BIA live in poverty, and the unemployment rate in the BIA is approximately ten percent. Residents currently located in the BIA are increasingly becoming elderly or chronically unemployed or underemployed. As a result, many local businesses have closed or relocated. Assessment and eventual cleanup of the BIA's dilapidated and vacant commercial and industrial properties will help facilitate redevelopment of the brownfields properties, improve public health, and enhance the environmental quality of the area. Revitalization of the BIA will provide employment opportunities to neighborhood residents, raise property values, and boost the local tax base.

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: City of Toledo/Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, OH
419-936-3757

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