Press Release

FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1995

CLINTON ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES SELECTION OF 11 NEW BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND ANNOUNCES THE-REMOVAL OF 3,300 SITES FROM THE SUPERFUND INVENTORY

Lauren Milone Mical 202-260-4358

Eleven new pilot projects have been selected to receive up to $2OO,OOO over two years as part of the Clinton Administration's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative. The initiative will help return polluted commercial properties back to productive use, thereby creating jobs, accelerating economic growth and increasing property values in urban areas.

The 11 new pilots are in Emeryville, Calif.; Houston, Texas; Lawrence, Mass.; New York, N.Y.; three cities in northwest Indiana including Gary, East Chicago and Hammond; Phoenixville, Penn.; Portland, Ore.; Stockton, Calif.; Tacoma, Wash.; Worcester, Mass.;and the state of Rhode Island.

President Clinton in his State of the Union address announced a new tax incentive to encourage brownfields redevelopment. His initiative will spur the private sector to create jobs, return land to productive use and clean up the environment.

"It makes economic and environmental sense to help our nation's cities by turning abandoned industrial properties into thriving, productive centers of activity," said EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner. "These brownfields pilot projects are a common-sense, cost- effective way to ensure greater protection of the health of our families, the health of our communities, and the health of our economy."

Brownfields pilots are national models for revitalizing contaminated urban properties. Developers are sought to restore abandoned sites to new uses, thereby increasing property values, stimulating tax revenues and revitalizing inner-city neighborhoods. Brownfields projects yield economic benefits and protect the environment by encouraging development on existing sites, rather than in undeveloped areas.

City officials, community residents, and organizations, financial institutions, developers and others in the participating cities will work together to:

• assess contamination at abandoned inner-city sites;
• involve community residents in all aspects of assessment, cleanup and redevelopment, including review of future land use options;
• leverage public and private funds to attract economic activity;
• resolve liability issues;
• and serve as models for other communities seeking effective redevelopment approaches.

To date, EPA has selected 40 brownfields pilots and has pledged to select a total of 50 projects, which are expected to receive up to $200,000 each by summer 1996. The other brownfields pilots already in progress are in the following areas: Baltimore, Md.; Bridgeport, Conn.; Cape Charles-North Hampton County, Va.; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Emeryville, Calif.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Laredo, Texas; Louisville, Ky.; New Orleans, La.; Oregon Mill Sites, Oregon; Richmond, Va.; Rochester, N.Y.; Sacramento, Calif.; St. Louis, Mo.; Trenton, N.J.; West Central Municipal Conference, Ill.; Boston, Mass.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Dallas, Texas; Duwamish Coalition, Wash.; the states of Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota; Philadelphia, Penn.; Pittsburgh, Penn.; Sand Creek Corridor, Colo.; and West Jordan, Utah.

In addition, EPA today announced plans to delete an additional 3,300 sites from the national inventory of Superfund sites. A year ago EPA removed almost 24,000 sites from this inventory. With the latest action, more than 27,000 sites, or two-thirds of the Superfund inventory, have been determined to not be of federal interest. In the past, once a site was added to this inventory it was not deleted, even after it was determined that the site did not warrant federal action. Deleting these sites from the inventory makes it possible for them to be redeveloped.

More information on the Brownfields Program is available from the RCRA/Superfund Hotline at 1-800-424-9346 or 703-412-9810. Information can also be accessed through the World Wide Web at: http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/.