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Brownfields Cleanup Revolving
Loan Fund Pilot Fact Sheet

State of Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality
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. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; 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 programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds to make loans 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

State of Oklahoma
State of Oklahoma		 Date of Announcement:
April 2001

Amount: $1.0 million

BCRLF Target Area: Projects in designated Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities
BACKGROUND

Oklahoma was once dominated by a booming oil industry that employed many state residents. Following the energy crisis of the early seventies, the collapse of much of the state's oil industry left behind areas of heavy contamination, and devastated communities, and led to nearly 20 years of economic distress. The average per capita income in the State is $22,953, and ranks 43rd in the nation. More than 15% of the population live below the poverty line. Oklahoma currently has three Federal Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC) - one in central Oklahoma City, one in Southeastern Oklahoma, and one in the Town of Ada.

Oklahoma has been active in cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields for many years, and the State has established both a Voluntary Cleanup Program and a Brownfields Program. In 1996, the Oklahoma Brownfields Voluntary Redevelopment Act was enacted. This law gives the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) the authority to release successful program participants from environmental liability.

BCRLF OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the BCRLF Pilot are to provide qualified applicants with the necessary capital to clean up contaminated properties. A successful BCRLF program will be self-sustaining and will assist the DEQ's Brownfields Program achieve its goal of returning abandoned, idled, and underused properties to sustainable uses.

The Oklahoma BCRLF will give priority to projects located in designated EZ/EC areas. Potential BCRLF candidate projects include a former contaminated property that Kaw City wishes to convert into a park; a former National Guard Armory in Haskell that the City plans to turn into a community center; and a former refinery in Grandfield on which the town wishes to build an industrial park. Additional sites identified by EPA and DEQ Brownfields Pilot programs include the Oklahoma Steel Castings facility in Tulsa.

FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS

DEQ will be the lead agency and will work with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to manage the loans. DEQ's Waste Management Division will serve as the brownfields site manager.

LEVERAGING OTHER RESOURCES

A variety of additional funding sources is available to BCRLF loan recipients:

  • The Public Infrastructure Development Fund, provided by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce;
  • The Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund;
  • Two revolving loan funds capitalized by previous awards from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program;
  • Funding from the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board for sites that were contaminated by past oil exploration activities;
  • The Oklahoma Department of Commerce's Quality Jobs Program, which provides economic incentives; and
  • Tax breaks for materials used for environmental cleanup.

Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of funding also apply to BCRLF funds.

CONTACTS

Waste Management Division Oklahoma DEQ
(405) 702-5127

Region 6 Brownfields Coordinator
(214) 665-6688

Visit the EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/Region06/6sf/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 (5105)		 EPA 500-F-01-244
April 2001
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105) Quick Reference Fact Sheet

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