Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center
Press Release
Background 
In 2005, the WV State Legislature recognized the lost economic and social value in abandoned contaminated lands or "brownfields." The Legislature created the Northern and Southern Brownfields Assistance Centers to work with WVDEP to support community efforts to turn these brownfields into productive land again.
The Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center, housed at West Virginia University’s Water Research Institute, empowers communities to plan and implement brownfields redevelopment projects in the state’s northern 33 counties by conducting general citizen and local government education efforts and by providing assistance to specific local communities interested the reuse of brownfields in their communities. Support can be provided to help groups solicit grants and low-interest loans for site assessments, clean-ups, and environmental job training as well as provide support for preliminary legal and planning work. The Center prioritizes requests from communities that are already working on community-wide development planning and may be interested in integrating brownfields redevelopment into those plans.
A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the actual or perceived presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. www.epa.gov/brownfields
Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, improves adjacent property values, and both improves and protects the environment.
Contacts
Management
Tamara F.
Vandivort, Program Administrator
(304) 293-2867 x 5448
Tamara.Vandivort@mail.wvu.edu
Patrick Kirby, Director
Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center
(304) 293-2867 x 5459
Patrick.Kirby@mail.wvu.edu
Mailing Address
Northern WV Brownfields Assistance Center
Water Research Institute, NRCCE
150 Evansdale Drive, Room 202
PO Box 6064
Morgantown, WV 26506
Phone (304) 293-2867 x5459
Fax (304) 293-7822
Staff
Deborah Morris, Accountant
(304) 293-2867 x 5444
Debbie.Morris@mail.wvu.edu
Terry Polce, Administrative Assistant
(304) 293-2867 x 5450
Terry.Polce@mail.wvu.edu
Sheila Westfall, Program Assistant
Project Listing
- Project No. BF-02
Project Title: Environmental Jobs for WV
Sponsoring Agency: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Amount: $161,000
Period of Project: March 2006 – March 2008
EPA Factsheet: www.epa.gov/brownfields/jt1205/west_va.pdf
Publications
NWBAC Annual Report 2005-2006 [.pdf 7.43mb]
Visit www.wvbrownfields.org for more information on brownfields programming in WV.
Events
Watch for listings of upcoming events such as a workshop in late spring or early summer 2007, "Writing Grants for Brownfields Redevelopment".
Training classes for the Environmental Jobs for WV will be scheduled by January 2007. Contact Alyse Schrecongost for more information.
2006 Brownfields Conference [.pdf 35kb]
