Brownfields Supplemental Assistance Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
	Date of Announcement: April 2001 Amount: $150,000
Target Area: Sioux City, IA Profile: The Pilot will target the 215-acre stockyards area, located within a state-designated enterprise zone, for Phase I and Phase II environmental assessment, continuing the activities of the original Pilot.

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected Sioux City to receive supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. Sioux City (population 80,505) has historically been a commercial center of the upper Missouri River. Much of the commerce was related to the processing and distribution of livestock in the Sioux City stockyards area located at the confluence of the Missouri and Floyd Rivers. The Pilot is targeting this 215-acre tract of land that is designated by the city as an urban renewal area and is within the state-designated enterprise zone.

In the 1920s, the stockyards and related businesses employed thousands. Beginning in the 1950s, however, a changing livestock industry and labor unrest resulted in a two-decade decline for the stockyards. Today, only a few packing plants remain in business while others have been abandoned, leaving large brownfields such as former packing plants and livestock holding facilities. Those employed by the remaining stockyards, almost 70 percent minority, have an average salary far below the statewide average.

OBJECTIVES

The Pilot will use supplemental funding to continue the activities of the original Pilot, which will involve conducting a second round of Phase I environmental assessments on target properties and Phase II assessments on three sites whose Phase I assessments suggested the need for further investigation. The city's objectives are to remove the stigma of real and perceived environmental contamination through assessment and cleanup of targeted sites in the stockyard area, stimulate economic revitalization in the area, and curtail urban sprawl by facilitating the reuse of brownfields. The city also aims to maintain the few viable businesses that remain at the stockyards while expanding the commercial use of the area to include biotechnology, agri-industry, and light industry.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Conduct community outreach to enhance the participation of residents, property owners, partners, and other stakeholders in the brownfields project;
• Conduct a second round of Phase I environmental assessments on five sites originally targeted by the Pilot; and
• Conduct Phase II environmental assessments of three prioritized sites.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.

CONTACTS

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 7
(913) 551-7988

Visit the EPA Region 7 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region7/cleanup/brownfields/index.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/