Brownfields 2007 Grant Fact Sheet

Greenville, NC

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 GRANT

$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City of Greenville for a brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to inventory and prioritize sites in the West Greenville Redevelopment Area for assessment. In addition, grant funds will be used to conduct up to 15 Phase I and at least four Phase II environmental site assessments, and to support community outreach activities.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Greenville was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Located in the largely rural coastal plain of eastern North Carolina, Greenville (population 133,798) has experienced significant poverty. The West Greenville Redevelopment Area was once a bustling complex of tobacco warehouses, industrial facilities, commercial buildings, and railroad facilities. With the decline in the local tobacco industry in the 1980s, jobs were lost and neighborhoods began to deteriorate. The West Greenville Redevelopment Area is located in an area where per capita incomes are extremely low. According to the 2000 Census, the per capita incomes for the two census tracts in the area were $10,457 and $9,986, respectively. The West Greenville Redevelopment Area experienced additional stress in September 1999, when Tropical Storm Dennis and Hurricane Floyd struck the area. Over 1,800 structures experienced flood damage at a cost of more than $90 million. Brownfields assessment will enable the city to identify and evaluate potential threats to human health and the environment and facilitate site reuse.

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 4 Brownfields Team
404-562-8792
http://www.epa.gov/region4/waste/bf/index.htm

Grant Recipient: City of Greenville, NC
252-329-4514

The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The cooperative agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.