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Brownfields
1996 Assessment
Pilot
Fact Sheet
State of Illinois
EPA Brownfields Initiative
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.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: Sep 1995
Amount: $150,000
Profile: The Pilot targets several sites for environmental assessments including former steel fabrication, stockyard, and former Pullman Car works facilities, which are located throughout the State, including Chicago, East St. Louis, and other downstate communities.
Background
EPA Region 5 selected the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) for a Regional Brownfields Pilot. The Pilot will support environmental assessments at brownfields throughout the State. A number of the sites identified to date cover approximately 7-10 acres and were used previously for industry, including former steel fabrication plants, a former textile mill, stockyard facilities, and sites associated with former Pullman Car works. Future uses of the sites range from a recycling center to parks and a marina. Many of the sites are located in or near communities populated largely by minorities and economically disadvantaged groups. Approximately 2/3 of the resources to date have been allocated for the sites in Chicago, with the remaining monies earmarked for East St. Louis and other downstate communities.
Objectives
IEPA's objective is to work with selected communities to facilitate the reintroduction of brownfields into the real estate market. Current market trends in the State indicate that, prospective purchasers are unwilling to assume the risk of accruing undetermined future costs to clean up possible contamination at these sites. Because the cost of conducting a private environmental assessment is prohibitively high, the sites remain unused. IEPA anticipates that information from the site assessments will enable prospective purchasers to quantify their potential liability accurately and encourage them to consider purchasing these sites for productive use.
Activities
The Pilot has:
- Identified potential sites throughout the State for environmental site assessments and redevelopment. As a result, a list of brownfields sites eligible for potential assistance under the Pilot was developed;
- Determined relevant selection criteria and selected 17 sites for further action. In 1995, three Chicago sites were selected. In 1996, two West Central Municipal Conference (Cook County) sites, one Marshall County site, and four St. Clair County sites were selected. In 1997, three Lake County sites were selected while Clark County, Rock Island County, Winnebago County, and Marshall County each had one site selected; and
- Out of the 17 sites described above, completed 11 site assessments to date.
The Pilot is:
- Conducting 6 site assessments at the remaining priority sites.
Experience with the State of Illinois Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities including the following.
- IEPA anticipates that, because the redevelopment of these sites is of substantial economic importance, city officials have become more involved in facilitating any prospective purchases or redevelopment and will convey information from the environmental assessment to the prospective purchasers.
- The City of Chicago is establishing a database that will track the results of environmental site assessments conducted throughout Chicago.
- EPA Region 5 has monitored the success of IEPA's program over the last several years, and has augmented the initial Pilot funding with monies from the Superfund Site Assessment Program consistent with other program demands.
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 (http://www.epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 5 Brownfields Team
(312) 886-7576
EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields)
Grant Recipient: State of Illinois
Illinois EPA
(217) 782-6760
Illinois EPA
(217) 782-6760
The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The cooperative agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.