(New York, N.Y.) Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck announced that the Camden Redevelopment Agency was selected to receive $944,710 in EPA brownfields grants to clean up contaminated sites and revitalize communities across Camden, New Jersey. Regional Administrator Enck was joined by Congressmember Donald Norcross, Salvation Army Major Paul Cain and Jim Harveson Director of Economic Development, Camden Redevelopment Agency at the site of the old Harrison Avenue landfill. The EPA funds will pay for continued cleanup work at the landfill to create open space and a park next to the Ray and Joan Kroc Salvation Army Corps Community Center. EPA's Brownfields program helps communities assess, clean up and reuse contaminated properties that are often a blight on communities.

"The EPA's brownfields program helps transform communities by cleaning up toxic pollution, improving the quality of life for neighborhoods and creating jobs," said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. "The nearly $1 million of funding announced today brings to $6 million the total amount of brownfield dollars that EPA has invested in Camden."

Camden will use $600,000 in brownfields funding to continue cleanup work at the Harrison Avenue Landfill Lot 18 at East State Street and Harrison Avenue; the APM site at East State Street and River Avenue; and Building 8 at 100 Cooper Street.

Camden will use $200,000 at the Harrison Avenue Landfill Lot 18, an old city dump that operated between 1952 and 1971, where virtually everything was dumped, including chemicals, industrial waste and medical waste. A portion of the landfill site has already been cleaned up and now includes the Salvation Army Corps Community Center. Another portion of the site will be used for a public waterfront park. The proposed Cramer Hill Waterfront Park Plan will have restored wetlands, walking trails and landscaped areas.

Another $200,000 of funding announced today will also be used at the APM site, which was formerly used as a warehouse, experimental laboratory, and toy assembly plant, and is contaminated with arsenic, metals, and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. The Camden Redevelopment Agency will use the property for retail businesses.

Camden will use $200,000 in cleanup funds to address Building 8, which is now vacant, but was formerly used for radio manufacturing and office space and is contaminated with PCBs, chlorinated volatile organic compounds, dioxin, and inorganic contaminants. The Camden Redevelopment Agency will use EPA brownfield funds to do community outreach near all three of the sites.

The Camden Redevelopment Agency will use $344,710 in brownfields funds to determine the nature and extent of environmental contamination at the Camden Laboratories property at 1667 Davis Street. About two-thirds of the site is covered by asphalt-paved parking areas and one- and two-story vacant buildings. Assessment activities will include some demolition to remove areas of pavement, concrete or masonry structures to access underlying areas of the site. Grant funds also will be used for community outreach.

Since the inception of the EPA's Brownfields program in 1995, cumulative brownfield program investments have leveraged more than $21 billion from a variety of public and private sources for cleanup and redevelopment activities. This equates to an average of nearly $18 leveraged for every EPA brownfield dollar expended. These investments have resulted in creating approximately 93,000 jobs nationwide. These projects demonstrate the positive impact a small investment of federal brownfields funding can have on community revitalization through leveraging jobs, producing clean energy, and providing recreation opportunities for surrounding neighborhoods. The EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and others to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields sites.

Additional information on EPA Brownfields activities is available at http://epa.gov/brownfields

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