City Wins $400k to Assess Brownfields

Fredericksburg secured $400,000 in federal grant funding to help lay the groundwork for local brownfield cleanup efforts. The funds will be used to identify sites which may be contaminated from past or present industrial activity within Fredericksburg. In that regard, the grants serve an environmental purpose, but city leaders are also looking at the grants as an business opportunity.

"We sort of see this as an economic development tool," said City Manager Beverly Cameron, who noted that it could spur redevelopment of unused commercial and industrial land within the city and help connect the Rappahannock River with Fredericksburg's parks and trails. 

This is the second time the city has applied for these brownfield grants. The city's application in 2009 was denied. Last fall the city re-applied. Yesterday, the EPA announced that Fredericksburg's application was successful. 

The grant money was awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency, which disbursed two $200,000 brownfield assessment grants which the city plans to use to identify contaminated sites for rehabilitation. To that end, the grants will be used to fund between five and 10 Phase I environmental site assessments and three phase II environmental site assessments. Money will also be used to create an inventory of the city's brownfields as well as community outreach and cleanup planning. 

Fredericksburg's application noted the city's location along the Rappahannock River as well as its prominent place in American history as reasons for awarding the grant. The EPA announcement also underscores the city's varied industrial history which may contribute to any present brownfield contamination. 

"Historic land uses include gun and ammunition manufacturing, iron forging and industrial factories," reads the announcement. "Suspected contaminants at these sites may threaten the health of the residents, the city's water supply and the natural habitats of the Rappahannock River and Hazel Run Creek."

While antebellum gun factories and iron forges were indeed present in the city's past, Cameron said a more pressing concern for local officials are industrial facilities like gas stations, lumber yards, dry cleaners and tire disposal facilities built in the 1930s, 40s and 50s before the era of strict environmental regulations. 

An EPA Phase I assessment is a basic evaluation which helps establish the environmental risks present on a piece of property .

"It's the most basic kind of due diligence study you would obtain before you bought, say, a piece of commercial real estate," said Cameron. 

An EPA Phase II assessment is a more thorough inspection where an environmental scientist and engineer perform on site work to determine what contaminants may be on site and then craft an abatement strategy for the site. 

It has yet to be specifically determined how the grant funds will be administered however Cameron says it will most likely be handled by city staff.