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Awards Totaling $150,000 Are Latest Installment on EPA Commitment to Support Glen Cove Brownfields Redevelopment Plans

Release Date: 04/12/2000
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(#00061) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox announced today that the City of Glen Cove is one of 56 municipalities nationwide to be awarded $100,000 to supplement previous EPA funding for site assessments of potential brownfields projects. Glen Cove 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. 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. Glen Cove, which has used previous EPA funds to assess brownfields along its waterfront, intends to use the new funds for further evaluation of promising brownfield sites. "As a Brownfields Showcase Community, Glen Cove's brownfields success story provides valuable lessons for other municipalities in the early stages of this national initiative," Ms. Fox said. "EPA continues to support Glen Cove's brownfields efforts because they are working, thanks to the commitment of Mayor Tom Suozzi and the coordination of government resources through a partnership with EPA, other federal agencies like HUD, the Army Corps of Engineers and EDA, the state and county," she explained. EPA's commitment to the Glen Cove waterfront revitalization effort is significant. In March 1998, Vice President Al Gore announced that Glen Cove 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 in Glen Cove since last year to coordinate the assistance available from various sources and create the package of federal assistance used to address Glen Cove'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 Glen Cove borders. The Mattiace Petrochemical, Inc. Superfund site groundwater and soil vapor treatment systems are operational and the Li Tungsten Superfund site cleanup is well underway. Both sites are situated along Garvies Point Road in the old industrial section of the city. Since 1995, EPA has funded 307 brownfields pilots nationwide, allowing communities to begin the process of redevelopment. There are 17 cities or counties in New York State participating in EPA's brownfields initiative, including: Glen Cove, Albany, Buffalo, Ogdensburg, Yonkers, New York City, Niagara Falls, Rome, Rochester, Schenectady, Elmira, Johnstown, Watertown, Seneca Nation, Utica and Niagara and Ulster counties.