Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

Summit County, CO

EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, and safely clean up brownfields to promote their sustainable reuse. Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years, with additional funding provided for greenspace), to test assessment models and facilitate coordinated assessment and cleanup efforts at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels; and job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund program (each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) to provide financial assistance for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.

PILOT SNAPSHOT

Summit County, CO

Date of Announcement:
April 2001

Amount: $200,000
Greenspace: $50,000

Profile: The Pilot will conduct environmental site assessments of 1,200 acres of privately held mining claims in the Peru Creek Basin of Summit County.

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected Summit County for a Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The county also was selected to receive additional funding for assessments at brownfields properties to be used for greenspace purposes. The target area for this Pilot is the Peru Creek Basin, a 15-square mile, sub-alpine basin located 70 miles west of Denver. Peru Creek, which runs through the target area, is a tributary of the Snake River. About 3,000 people live year-round in the Snake River watershed in Summit County, though seasonal resort use swells that number to over 20,000. Approximately eight percent of the county’s residents live below the poverty level.

The hardrock mining industry left Summit County with a legacy of contaminated and abandoned mine sites that lay idle and continue to degrade the environment. Mining and its associated acid mine drainage have significantly impacted Peru Creek. The fear of potential environmental liability has strained community attempts to clean up contaminated sites within the basin.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this Pilot are to identify, assess, and plan response activities to address mining-related contamination and revitalization in the Peru Creek Basin. Through this Pilot, the county proposes to conduct environmental site assessments of 1,200 acres of privately held mining claims. This Pilot will create economic benefit in Summit County by improving and restoring the natural ecosystem, thereby enhancing recreational opportunities. By using brownfields tools to clean up contaminated sites, the county proposes to develop solutions that may help overcome a major barrier that has inhibited the clean up and redevelopment of abandoned mine sites throughout the county, state, and country.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

Gathering existing data and conducting preliminary environmental site assessments;
Prioritizing sites on the basis of the preliminary assessments;
Conducting Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments for the highest priority sites;
Developing cleanup plans; and
Engaging the community in brownfields decisions through the county’s website, local newspapers, and public meetings.

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

CONTACTS

Summit County Open Space and Trails Department
(970) 668-4067

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 8
(303) 312-6982

Visit the EPA Region 8 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region08/land_waste/bfhome/bfhome.html

For further information, including specific Pilot contacts, additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460

Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)

EPA 500-F-01-261
April 2001

Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)

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