Vice President Gore Announces Brownfields Grants To 71 Communities

[Career/Pro <cpro@igc.apc.org>]

                         THE WHITE HOUSE
                  Office of the Vice President 
                   Wednesday, July 15, 1998
                   CONTACT: (202) 456-7035

VICE PRESIDENT GORE AWARDS BROWNFIELDS GRANTS 
TO 71 COMMUNITIES, EXPANDS EFFORTS TO REVITALIZE 
DISTRESSED AREAS 

(For more information on the Brownfields Pilots via
the Internet, visit the EPA Brownfields Home Web Pages at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/pilot.htm)

Washington, DC -- Vice President Gore awarded 71 new grants, 
for over $14 million, today to help communities clean up and 
redevelop Brownfields -- abandoned, contaminated properties, 
often found in distressed areas -- and return them to thriving 
centers of prosperity. 

"There is no greater example of the environment and the 
economy working hand in hand to benefit the American people 
than the Administration's efforts to clean up and revitalize 
Brownfields," said Vice President Gore, who announced the 
new round of Brownfields grants at the White House 
Community Empowerment Conference. "Across the nation, 
cities are coming back to life with new jobs, new opportunities, 
and new hope." 

To date, the federal government has awarded 228 Brownfields 
grants, for over $42 million, to states, cities, towns, counties, 
and tribes. These grants have leveraged nearly $1 billion for 
redevelopment and created over 2,000 jobs. 

Today's announcement builds on the Administration's efforts 
to breathe new life, new opportunity, and new hope into the 
nation's central cities and isolated rural areas. The Brownfields 
redevelopment efforts are an important part of the President's 
overall community empowerment agenda. 

Since 1993, the Administration has taken significant steps to 
clean up and redevelop Brownfields and return them to 
productive use, such as removing legal barriers to 
redevelopment; creating a national model to determine the 
best way to revitalize communities; providing a targeted tax 
incentive to businesses that purchase and cleanup these 
sites; and providing over $42 million in seed money to 228 
communities for revitalization. 

The Vice President chairs the Community Empowerment 
Board, which oversees various initiatives to bring together 
distressed communities to develop plans for revitalization. 
The three-day, fourth annual White House Community 
Empowerment Conference brings together communities to 
discuss community empowerment strategies. 

The Brownfields grants awarded today total about $200,000 
for each community. The states, communities and tribes 
selected to receive the new grants include: 

Mansfield, MA
Brockton, MA
Montachusett Regional Planning Commission, MA
State of Massachusetts
State of New Hampshire
State of Rhode Island 
Stamford, CT 
Colrain, MA
Middletown, CT
Paterson, NJ
Hudson County, NJ
Atlantic City, NJ
Long Branch, NJ
Morris County, NJ
Middlesex County, NJ
Ulster County, NY
Puerto Rico Ports Authority, PR
Utica, NY 
Hagerstown, MD
Ford City, PA
Shenandoah, VA
Washington, DC
Reading, PA
Uniontown, AL
Escambia County, FL
East Point, GA
Oktibbeha County, MS
Burlington, NC
Columbia, SC
Columbia, MS
Southeast Florida
East Moline, IL
Waukegan, IL
Canton, IL
Wayne County, MI
St. Joseph/Benton Harbor/Benton Charter Township, MI
Ypsilanti, MI
Saginaw, MI
Flint, MI
Cleveland, OH
Youngstown/Campbell/Struthers, OH
Columbus, OH
Hamilton, OH
Toledo, OH 
Springfield, OH
Southern Ohio Port Authority, OH
Glendale, WI
Kenosha, WI 
Gretna, LA
Bernalillo County, NM
State of New Mexico
Comanche Nation, OK
Brownsville, TX 
Rio Grande Council of Governments, TX & NM
Clinton, IA
Coralville, IA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Hutchinson, KS
Omaha, NE
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, ND
Evanston, WY
Lakewood, CO
State of California
Long Beach, CA
Alameda County, CA
West Hollywood, CA
Montebello, CA
Hoopa Valley Tribe, CA
Ely Shoshone Tribe, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District, OR

For more information on the Brownfields Initiative via
the Internet, visit the EPA Brownfields Home Page at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/