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Latest Awards Totaling $200 Thousand Push EPA Contributions to Trenton's Brownfields Redevelopment to More than $1 Million

Release Date: 04/12/2000
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(#00059) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox announced today that the City of Trenton is one of 56 municipalities nationwide to be awarded $150,000 to supplement previous EPA funding for site assessments of potential brownfields projects. Trenton is also one of 21 cities in the country to receive an additional $50,000 to support new efforts to improve "livability" in urban areas through the preservation and creation of green spaces or parks. Hudson County is the other New Jersey municipality to receive both grants. EPA supports communities across the country through its Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative - a national effort to renew industrial and commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. "Trenton's brownfields success stories provide valuable lessons for other municipalities in the early stages of this national initiative," Ms. Fox said. "EPA continues to support Trenton's brownfields efforts because they are working thanks to the commitment of Mayor Doug Palmer and the coordination of government resources through their partnership with EPA, other federal agencies like HUD and EDA, the state and county," she explained. Through private and public partnerships with the federal and state governments, the city has already cleaned up and redeveloped more than 30 brownfields, recycling nearly 100 acres. The urban revitalization impact is clear, as one of these properties leveraged approximately $90 million to create a new shopping center, an office complex and more than 400 jobs. EPA's commitment to Trenton's efforts to revive neglected and derelict urban sites is signicant. Since 1996, EPA has contributed $1.1 million to support brownfields redevelopment efforts in Trenton. In March 1998, Vice President Al Gore announced that Trenton was selected as a Showcase community, one of only 16 municipalities chosen from across the country to share $28 million in federal resources and receive coordinated technical assistance from 17 federal agencies to develop models of innovative environmental cleanup and economic revitalization. In addition, an EPA expert has been working full-time for the last two years to coordinate the assistance available from various sources and create the package of federal assistance used to address Trenton's specific concerns. To that end, EPA has established a Brownfields Inter-Agency Workgroup. EPA has also been very active in hazardous waste site cleanups within the city's borders. The Gould Battery (a.k.a. Magic Marker) site on Calhoun Street cleaned up in 1998 and the Champale cleanup on Lamberton Street in 1997 are the latest in a number of successful federal Superfund removal actions in Trenton. In 1996, EPA cleaned up the Kramer site on North Olden Avenue and the Champale Laboratory on Centre Street. The Blakely Laundry on Montgomery Street was cleaned up in 1992 and Titan Lighting on Lawlor Street in 1991. Including Trenton, there are 15 municipalities participating in the National Brownfields Economic Redevelopment program in New Jersey, among them are: Camden, Newark, Perth Amboy, Jersey City, Elizabeth, Atlantic City, Long Branch, Paterson, Hudson, Middlesex and Morris Counties, Orange, Phillipsburg and the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission District. Over the past six years, these grants represent an investment of more than $6 million dollars to assist in the redevelopment of New Jersey's brownfields.