EPA's 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, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse
brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has
actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment
or reuse. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional
Brownfields Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support
creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPA is funding more than 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots
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.
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PILOT SNAPSHOT
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Date of Award:
September 1996
Amount: $100,000 |
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Site Profile: The Pilot targets 10 verified and 36 potential brownfields with varied levels of contamination, interspersed throughout the City's Empowerment Zone. Environmental audits will be conducted at up to three of these sites.
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BACKGROUND
EPA Region 4 has selected the City of Atlanta for a Regional Brownfields
Pilot. Industrial and residential areas are mixed throughout Atlanta's urban
core, with large industries surrounded by small, single-family homes and public
housing projects. The City has established their own Empowerment Zone of 30
neighborhoods (population 50,000) and the Atlanta Empowerment Zone Corporation
to implement their plans. Atlanta has identified 10 verified and 36 potential
brownfields in the Empowerment Zone that may be contaminated with a number of
toxic pollutants. Several areas contain vacant and abandoned warehouses that
have become dumping grounds for waste and toxic chemicals. Ninety percent of the
population is African-American, and most are below the poverty line. One study
has shown that 83 percent of the City's contaminated sites are located in
African-American neighborhoods.
OBJECTIVES
Atlanta plans to: 1) inventory brownfields within the Empowerment Zone; 2)
develop financing tools to encourage industry involvement in brownfields
redevelopment; 3) provide environmental justice planning to develop sustainable
communities; and 4) build a cohesive brownfields redevelopment strategy and
project management capacity.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
- Begun environmental assessments, and will undertake a minimum of three
Level I and one Level II environmental audits.
The Pilot is:
- Building a brownfields inventory database;
- Producing a site identification brochure that will be the beginning of an
aggressive public communications strategy and demonstration project;
- Developing remediation processes and cost analyses;
- Creating a central oversight process for reviewing technical elements of
site remediation, including legal and insurance liability risks; and
Involving community partners including Clark Atlanta University and
neighborhood planning boards in organizing workshops, community meetings, and
outreach efforts.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Atlanta Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities
including the following.
- The Metro Area Chamber of Commerce formed a Brownfields Issue Work Group.
The Work Group's technical subcommittees have provided support to the City's
brownfields efforts.
- The Brownfields Issue Work Group has also provided the City with free legal
services and financial assistance relating to liability, insurance, and lending
concerns.
CONTACTS
Dan Cohen
Atlanta Department of Planning and Development
(404) 330-6899
Barbara Dick
U.S. EPA - Region 4
(404) 562-8923
dick.barbara@epamail.epa.gov
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/
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