Brownfields 2004 Grant Fact Sheet

Freeport, IL

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic development 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, the President 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.

CLEANUP GRANT

$200,000 for petroleum

EPA has selected the City of Freeport for a brownfields cleanup grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up petroleum contamination at the CMC Heartland Site, a former railroad yard owned by the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad. Portions of the site had been leased to bulk petroleum facilities, lumber yards, coal businesses, stockyards, beer distributors, icehouses, and grain companies.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Freeport was selected to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. The city, the largest in Stephenson County, has a population of 26,443. Its unemployment rate is 10.1 percent, and 22 percent of its residents are living below the poverty level. The population around the target area is 1,945, of which 64 percent are minorities. The per capita income of residents in the project area is lower than the city's average. The target population will benefit from cleanup of the CMC Heartland Site through removal of above- and below-ground storage tanks and associated contaminated soil. The cleanup of the site is a critical link between the recently constructed Tutty's Crossing Trailhead, the Jane Addams Trail, and Pecatonica Prairie Path. The Jane Addams Trail, once completed, will establish an interstate recreational link between Illinois and Wisconsin.

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 at: www.epa.gov/brownfields.

EPA Region 5 Brownfields Team
312-886-7576
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/

Grant Recipient: Freeport, IL
815-235-8205

The cooperative agreement for this grant has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.