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Brownfields 2008 Grant Fact Sheet
Cambria County Redevelopment Authority, PA
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 this 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 Cambria County Redevelopment Authority for a brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to conduct 10 Phase I and five to 10 Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to conduct health monitoring and support community outreach activities.
COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION
The Cambria County Redevelopment Authority was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Cambria County (population 146,967) is located in the Allegheny Mountains section of the Appalachian Plateau. Its major economic forces are manufacturing, coal mining, and agriculture. In 1950, more than 20,000 people worked in the area's steel mills. When the mills closed in 1982, about 12,000 jobs were lost. Today, less than 3,000 people work in the area's steel-related industries. The county's poverty and unemployment rates exceed the statewide averages. There are about 50 brownfields in the county, the largest of which are primarily abandoned steel mills. One of these mills in the City of Johnstown is about 13 miles long. There also are smaller sites, including abandoned mines and hospitals, scattered throughout rural areas. Brownfields assessments are the first step toward reducing potential risks to public health and the environment and are expected to help promote economic growth in Cambria County.
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.
EPA Region 3 Brownfields Team
215-814-3129
EPA Region 3 Brownfields web site
Grant Recipient: Cambria County Redevelopment Authority, PA
814-472-6711
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.