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Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

Shreveport, LA
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, and safely clean up brownfields to promote their sustainable reuse. Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years, with additional funding provided for greenspace), to test assessment models and facilitate coordinated assessment and cleanup efforts at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels; and job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund program (each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) to provide financial assistance for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.

PILOT SNAPSHOT

Shreveport, LA
Shreveport, LA

Date of Announcement:
July 1996

Amount: $200,000

Profile: The Pilot targets the abandoned industrial sites within the city's empowerment zone.

BACKGROUND

EPA selected the City of Shreveport for a Brownfields Pilot. Shreveport (1990 Census population 198,525) is the state's third largest city and is located at the crossroads of major rail and highway systems that transport large volumes of hazardous materials. During the regional decline of the oil industry in the 1980s, Shreveport lost 10,000 jobs, many of them located in the older inner-city industrial area. The inner city contains hundreds of acres of industrial sites that lie vacant due partly to the presence or threat of contamination. Fear of environmental liability due to brownfields contamination is impeding redevelopment, increasing urban blight, and causing businesses to locate in prime agricultural areas outside the city. The urban core, designated a local empowerment zone (EZ), had an unemployment rate of 20 percent and a poverty rate of 40 percent in 1995-96. The area has been chosen for the federal National Performance Review program to demonstrate a comprehensive strategy for enhancing delivery of federal support to troubled neighborhoods. In 1995-96, citywide unemployment was 10.6 percent, 24 percent of families were living in poverty, and 47 percent of the population was composed of minorities.

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of the Pilot is to increase the economic and environmental viability of Shreveport's urban core neighborhoods. This will be accomplished by formalizing partnerships between the city and other organizations concerned with economic and environmental revitalization; implementing environmental assessments at specific properties; promoting brownfields redevelopment opportunities; leveraging resources to attract federal, state, and private funds; and coordinating business, educational, neighborhood, and other activities to achieve the overall objective.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

  • Established a Brownfields Advisory Committee to enable participation by all stakeholder groups in the Brownfields Initiative;

  • Identified and inventoried more than 300 potential brownfields sites using a geographic information system (GIS);

  • Completed Phase I and/or II environmental assessments at 4 of the 16 targeted properties (following Pilot assessments, the Allen/Ashton and Kings Highway properties were determined to require no cleanup activities); and

  • Helped sponsor "Louisiana Brownfields Day." The event was dedicated to highlighting brownfields economic development opportunities for legislators, government officials, developers, and others interested in brownfields redevelopment.

The Pilot is:

  • Exploring legal, financial, and technological options for brownfields cleanup, planning, and redevelopment;

  • Educating the community about brownfields problems and opportunities in the targeted area; and

  • Providing a forum to develop community-based strategies for long-term brownfields cleanup and redevelopment.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the Shreveport Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities, including the following:

  • Redevelopment activities are underway at six properties.

  • Ninety-five new redevelopment jobs were created.

  • A total of $16.3 million in redevelopment dollars was leveraged for the HICA Steel Foundry and Festival sites.

  • EPA awarded Shreveport a $350,000 Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund grant.

  • EPA selected Shreveport for a Brownfields Job Training Pilot grant.

  • EPA provided Shreveport with a $200,000 supplemental assistance brownfields assessment grant in 2000.
CONTACTS

Office of Environmental Affairs
(318) 673-6090

Regional Brownfields Team

U.S. EPA - Region 6
(214) 665-6736

Visit the EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/bfpages/sfbfhome.htm

For further information, including specific Pilot contacts, additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460 		Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)		 EPA 500-F-01-331
July 2001
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105) Quick Reference Fact Sheet

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