Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
Tulsa, Oklahoma	Date of Announcement: May 1997 Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets five potential brownfields located primarily in northwest neighborhoods of the city.

BACKGROUND

EPA selected the City of Tulsa as a Brownfields Pilot. Located in the northeastern quadrant of Oklahoma, Tulsa is the 43rd largest city in the country and is continuing to grow. The economic boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s contributed to rapid expansion in outlying greenfields and pulled businesses and residents from the city core, leaving large tracts of land that may be environmentally contaminated. Numerous redevelopment efforts adjacent to the core area have been delayed due to potential environmental risks. The city faces a shortage of greenfields within the city limits, and industrial development must focus on brownfields for future economic growth.

In March 1996, EPA Region 6 provided the Tulsa Industrial Authority (TIA) with a list of 85 sites in Tulsa County that were removed (archived) from Superfund's Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS). After researching the status of the sites, TIA is focusing on 5 of 46 potential brownfields located primarily in the northwest neighborhoods of the city. The sites were used for a wide variety of commercial and industrial activities, including electroplating, transformer repair, and electrical equipment and chemical manufacturing. Tulsa plans to assess the level of contamination, develop cleanup plans, and spur private redevelopment at these five properties.

OBJECTIVES

Tulsa's objective is to restore abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial sites to productive use and create jobs through a brownfields redevelopment plan. The Pilot will serve as a mechanism to empower the community and other redevelopment stakeholders to work together to assess, safely clean up, sustainably reuse, and prevent future brownfields.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Developed an atlas of 53 maps showing all of the potential brownfields sites archived from EPA's CERCLIS list;
• Developed a Targeted Response Team that recommended ideas about funding, incentives, and removing barriers to brownfields redevelopment;
• Implemented a Brownfields Redevelopment Information Management System/LandView III database and is using the TIA geographic information system to target sites for redevelopment;
• Created a brownfields web site (www.Tulsachamber.com/brownfield.htm), which contains information on the history and progress of the Pilot;
• Identified five areas of the city that contain the most potential brownfields sites and developed site profile sheets with photographs, ownership, and tax information; and
• Identified brownfields within North Tulsa that have the greatest likelihood of being redeveloped with specific recommendations tied to demographics.

The Pilot is:

• Planning to conduct environmental assessments at the five targeted sites, and working with eight local companies and four out-of-state investors interested in potential brownfields redevelopment;
• Clarifying liability issues by developing a model redevelopment process that uses provisions of the Oklahoma Brownfields Voluntary Redevelopment Act;
• Exploring methods of financing cleanups through state voluntary cleanup programs, state tax incentive programs, contributions from responsible parties, and prospective purchaser agreements; and
• Generating effective public involvement in the cleanup and redevelopment planning process for residents living near the targeted sites.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

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

• The Pilot has leveraged $415,000 from public and private partners, including $58,000 from the owners of the Flint and Oklahoma Steel Castings sites for assessments to be partially funded by the Pilot in 1999, $150,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be used for the Oklahoma Steel Castings site, and $207,500 from the owner of the Oklahoma Steel site for future site demolition and asbestos abatement.
• Upon receiving the CDBG funds, the Oklahoma Steel Castings site owner offered to donate more than 11 acres to the TIA, which is expected to save taxpayers $500,000 in related property acquisition and legal costs.
• The Pilot's partnership with the Tulsa District Corps of Engineers leveraged $50,000 from EPA Region 6 to utilize the Corps services on target sites.
• Phase II assessments were completed at two sites (Oklahoma Steel Castings and Flint Steel Building) with funding from the site owners. No cleanup is required on the Flint Steel Building.
• EPA awarded the city a $150,000 supplemental assistance grant to target 10 additional brownfields properties.

CONTACTS

Tulsa Industrial Authority
(918) 584-7898

Regional Brownfields Team

U.S. EPA - Region 6

(214) 665-6735

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/