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Brownfields Success Stories
Intervention Equals Prevention in Shreveport
After nearly $1.3 million in cleanup and redevelopment funding, the
former HICA steel foundry and upgrade company has been upgraded and
renovated into the new HICA Steel Castings, LLC, with owners committed
to running an environmentally safe operation in the Cedar Grove neighborhood
of Shreveport, Louisiana. Built in the 1960s, the original HICA steel
foundry had been successful until the early 1990s, when operations began
to decline due to market conditions. 
With poverty rates for surrounding residents reaching as high as 75%,
the area was designated as a state Enterprise Zone, and the HICA facility
eventually shut down in 1996. A proposal emerged to try and reopen a
portion of the facility to cater to a more viable market, but fears
of environmental contamination proved to be a formidable obstacle. EPA's
Brownfields Pilot award of $200,000 in June, 1996 enabled a prospective
purchaser to evaluate the extent of the site's environmental pollution.
The Pilot also facilitated review and approvals from EPA and the Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality to revitalize the HICA facility.
Previous and current owners of the site spent at least $10,000 in additional
assessments. The resulting $360,000 cleanup effort was funded entirely
by the facility's previous owners, while the Pilot sought regulatory
approvals and agreements between EPA and the Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality to allow redevelopment to proceed. Through its
business development program, the city then provided $200,000 from U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block
Grant funds to finance HICA's resurrection, while a local bank provided
a $620,000 loan. The upgraded, renovated HICA facility currently employs
50-60 people, and the total number of jobs is expected to reach 250
within 2-3 years. The city's workforce development unit also provides
the facility with employees through the "On the Job Training-Job Training
Partnership Act" (OJT-JTPA) program, which pays half the salary of OJT
employees for their first six months of employment. The remaining properties
on the site 
are currently being marketed for sale/redevelopment, and the new HICA
facility is considering expanding its operations to one of these locations.
For more information on the Shreveport Brownfields Pilot, contact Stan
Hitt of EPA Region 6 at (214) 665-6736, or Sum Arigala with the City
of Shreveport at (318) 673-7552.