PILOT SNAPSHOT |
| Date of Award: September 1995
Amount: $150,000 |
|
Site Profile: The Pilot targets approximately
twelve brownfields in Indianapolis and the northwest Indiana
communities of Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago. |
BACKGROUND
EPA Region 5 selected the Indiana Department of Environmental Management
(IDEM) for a Regional Brownfields Pilot to support environmental assessments at
approximately twelve brownfields in Indianapolis and the northwest Indiana
communities of Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago. In addition, EPA has granted
IDEM the use of a mobile lab to facilitate testing at the sites.
OBJECTIVES
IDEM's objective is to facilitate the reintroduction of approximately ten
brownfields into the real estate market. Currently, the potential environmental
liability at these sites is unquantified and prospective purchasers are
unwilling to take the risk of accruing undetermined future cleanup costs. The
cost of conducting a private environmental assessment is prohibitively high, so
these sites remain unused.
IDEM anticipates that, once these sites have been assessed, the increased
amount of information regarding the sites will enable prospective purchasers to
quantify their potential liability accurately and encourage them to consider
purchasing these sites for commercial use.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
- Created a Brownfields Environmental Assessment Application to assist
communities in the selection of their brownfields sites;
- Completed inventory of brownfields sites with redevelopment potential in
the four cities and selected several priority sites for assessment;
- Commenced assessment on 12 sites using a mobile lab from EPA, and finished
final reports on six of them. Most of the sites are about ten acres in size and
were previously used for heavy industry;
- Designed and conducted (in conjunction with the Indiana Department of
Commerce) brownfields workshops for a range of stakeholder groups;
- Developed educational brownfields material, including a newsletter; and
- Conducted several other outreach activities including several presentations
to stakeholder groups and municipalities.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the State of Indiana Pilot has been a catalyst for related
activities including the following.
- Three of the sites that were assessed under the Pilot are pending cleanup
and redevelopment.
- IDEM anticipates that because the redevelopment of these sites is of
substantial economic importance, City and State officials will be involved in
facilitating any prospective purchases or redevelopment and will convey the
assessment information to the prospective purchasers. To date, several of the
sites have gone forward with redevelopment work.
- IDEM offered to conduct "no cost" brownfields environmental
assessments to municipalities throughout the State.
- IDEM, in conjunction with other Indiana brownfields pilot programs,
developed a tool kit designed for developers. The tool kit provides information
on the brownfields program, how to participate, and the legal and technical
issues associated with redeveloping properties.
- IDEM is using experiences from the Pilot to inform its proposals for State
brownfields legislation.
CONTACTS:
Dana Reed Wise
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
(317) 308-3048
Joe Dufficy
U.S. EPA - Region 5
Chicago, IL
(312) 886-1960
dufficy.joe@epamail.epa.gov
Jan Pels
U.S. EPA - Region 5
Chicago, IL
(312) 886-3009
pels.jan@epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields |
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