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EPA/State Officials Visit Camden for Brownfields Pilot Project Awards to Promote Site Redevelopment and Youth Job Training

Release Date: 01/07/1999
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(#99003) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox presented Camden Mayor Milton Milan a check for $200,000 at City Hall today for more brownfields site assessments and the creation of a Brownfields Redevelopment One Stop Shop for the community and interested developers. This new funding is the second EPA Brownfields grant for $200,000 awarded to Camden since 1996. Brownfields, abandoned commercial or industrial sites where redevelopment is hindered by concerns about toxic contamination, account for more than one half of all the industrial sites in the city.

"These grants are more evidence of the federal government's commitment to help restore the city's economy," said EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox. "We are very pleased to support the City of Camden's environmental cleanup and economic redevelopment efforts. EPA's Brownfields Initiative is about empowering municipalities to create economic opportunities, new sources of public revenue and J-O-B-S, Jobs."

Camden was chosen for this additional funding as one of 40 finalists out of 230 applicants nationwide in the Brownfields Showcase Community competition, which targeted communities to receive Administration-wide assistance and serve as models for environmental cleanup and economic revitalization. While Camden was not one of the final 16 designated Showcase Communities, the city made it into the final review round having successfully used the initial EPA Brownfields award to develop a detailed inventory of brownfields problem sites and establish a network of federal, state and local governments and community leaders, all committed to addressing the brownfields problem.

EPA has placed an Agency employee in Camden to help facilitate the success of the program. Three sites in Camden have undergone preliminary assessments and site inspections. All three sites are within the Enterprise Community/Empowerment Zone and the New Jersey State Enterprise Zone. One of the sites under consideration for reuse may become an assisted living center for seniors. In addition, Camden has secured New Jersey Hazardous Discharge Remediation funds to investigate 19 sites and clarify environmental conditions and cleanup costs for each of them.

The city will also benefit from a recent EPA Brownfields Job Training and Development award of $200,000 to the New Jersey Department of Human Services. This award will fund a new component in the state's youth training program that will teach 30 young people in Newark and Camden basic environmental cleanup skills related to brownfields. The training will give them the qualifications needed to pursue environmental careers. "Every successful brownfield project can be a home run for youths looking for direction...if they get the right training," Ms. Fox explained.

The New Jersey Youth Corps Brownfields job training pilot began last September and is serving 15 young adults in Camden and 15 in Newark. Over two years, participants will receive instruction leading to a high school diploma, personal counseling, and classroom and hands-on training on how to evaluate and remedy brownfields sites. Environmental training will be provided by the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Upon completion of the program, participants will receive employment placement assistance, as they seek to use their new skills in jobs specializing in environmental clean-ups.

It's all part of EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative to kickstart the renewal of industrial and commercial areas where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.

This Brownfields Initiative draws on the special tools and resources available at the federal, state, municipal and private levels to help New Jersey's fifth largest city with its brownfields redevelopment.

More than 127 municipalities across the country are now participating in the National Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative which promises to stimulate economic redevelopment through environmental cleanup. The Brownfield Assessment Demonstration Pilot Awards EPA has granted in New Jersey are:

Atlantic City - July 1998
Hudson County - July 1998
Long Branch - July 1998
Middlesex County - July 1998
Morris County - July 1998
Paterson - July 1998
Elizabeth -September 1997
Jersey City - September 1997
Perth Amboy - September 1997
Camden - September 1996
Newark - September 1996
Trenton - September 1995