EPA Announces Clean Air/Brownfields Partnership Pilot

[JAMES MAAS <MAAS.JAMES@epamail.epa.gov>]

EPA ANNOUNCES HALF MILLION FOR PROJECTS HARMONIZING AIR
QUALITY, ECONOMIC PROGRESS IN CHICAGO, DALLAS AND BALTIMORE 

Dave Ryan 202-260-2981

(For more information on the Web, visit the Brownfields Home 
Page at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/announcg.htm#rapr)

On July 24th, EPA announced $500,000 in federal funding to 
enhance air quality and economic vitality in Baltimore, Chicago 
and Dallas.  $400,000 of the new cooperative initiative, called
the Clean Air/Brownfields Partnership Pilot, will come from
EPA, while $100,000 will be provided by the U.S. Dept. of
Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA). 
$200,000 of this funding (including all of EDA's contribution)
will be a grant to the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) to
study the relationship between clean air, Brownfields
assessment and cleanup, and economic development issues in
these three cities.  The remaining money will be used to
quantify the air quality and other environmental and economic
benefits of redeveloping Brownfield sites within a city
instead of developing new sites in the suburbs; it will also
be used to make it easier for urban developers to offset
emissions from new development by reducing it elsewhere in the
city.  In addition, project officials will look at  air
quality benefits derived from locating clean power plants on
Brownfield properties in urban areas.  To accomplish the
overall goals of the Partnership Pilot, three EPA offices, Air
and Radiation, Policy, and Solid Waste and Emergency Response,
will be working cooperatively with these three cities, USCM,
EDA, and relevant states. Once the Pilot objectives are met,
the partners will develop plans, specific to each city, that
satisfy both EPA Clean Air Act requirements and restoration
and reuse needs.  These plans may be used as models by other
cities to protect the health of their citizens while
revitalizing their economies. The cities were chosen for this
project by a joint decision of EPA, EDA and the USCM using
specified criteria.  Apart from this pilot project, EPA's
Brownfields initiative has helped communities since 1993 to
reduce the potential health risks and restore the economic
viability of abandoned, idled or under-used industrial and
commercial properties.  EDA also has a long history of funding
Brownfields redevelopment, and was the first federal agency to
enter into a memorandum of understanding with EPA in support
the Brownfields initiative.  For more information on the
cities pilot, contact Leah Yasenchak at 202-260-7854.

For more information on the Brownfields Initiative, visit the 
Brownfields Home page at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields