![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Brownfields 2008 Grant Fact Sheet
Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, PA
EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM
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 this 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.
ASSESSMENT GRANT
$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation for a brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to update a brownfields inventory and conduct about seven Phase I and about three Phase II environmental site assessments in the Lehigh Valley. Grant funds also will be used to support community outreach activities.
COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION
The Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC) was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Located in eastern Pennsylvania, the LVEDC serves Northampton (population 267,066) and Lehigh (population 312,090) Counties, which include the major municipalities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton. These cities have been hard hit over the last 20 years as their steel-making and natural resource-based economies deteriorated. These cities have higher unemployment rates, much lower average household incomes, and significantly higher poverty rates than their respective counties. They also have larger minority populations than the counties as a whole. The economic decline has left a legacy of abandoned and blighted industrial sites and scarred historic mining operations. Brownfields assessments are expected to facilitate the removal of environmental threats and encourage redevelopment in the valley.
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.
EPA Region 3 Brownfields Team
215-814-3129
EPA Region 3 Brownfields web site
Grant Recipient: Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, PA
610-266-6852
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.