Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

Chicago, IL

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.

ASSESSMENT GRANT

$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the City of Chicago for a brownfields assessment grant. Petroleum grant funds will be used to perform ten Phase I and three Phase II environmental site assessments, participate in the State of Illinois' Voluntary Cleanup Program assessment and cleanup evaluations, and provide technical review of reports and plans.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Chicago was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Located in northern Illinois on Lake Michigan, Chicago (population 2,895,964) includes federally designated Empowerment Zones and Renewal Communities. There are more than 1,000 brownfield sites in Chicago, many of which are located in or near communities with high rates of unemployment, poverty, and crime. The sites, ranging in size from a tenth of an acre to 50 acres, are causing millions of dollars in lost annual tax revenues. The majority of sites targeted for assessment are located in environmental justice areas. Approximately 26 percent of the city's residents are Hispanic or Latino, and 37 percent are African-American. The city's average unemployment rate is 6.2 percent. When brownfields are assessed and eventually cleaned up, they will be used for new residential developments and open space. Brownfields redevelopment will promote economic growth, create jobs, improve the tax base by generating tax revenues, decrease crime, create new open space, and remove threats to human health.

CONTACTS

For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields.

EPA Region 5 Brownfields Team
312-886-7576
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/

Grant Recipient: City of Chicago, IL
312-744-9139

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