Summary: Federal, state, and local governments have focused much attention on the cleanup and economic redevelopment of abandoned urban properties, known as "brownfields," that have real or perceived chemical contamination. Because of the potential expense to clean up contaminated sites in accordance with federal and state environmental laws, businesses have often chosen to locate on uncontaminated sites outside of urban areas, costing cities tax revenues and job opportunities. This report discusses the activities that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has supported with funds targeted for brownfields in its budgets for fiscal years 1997 and 1998. GAO focuses on two program categories of brownfield expenditures--the outreach, technical assistance, and research category and the job training category--because they are not as directly related to assessing sites for the extent of contamination present, a key first step toward cleanup, as the other program categories. GAO identifies any grants and agreements that EPA has awarded since fiscal year 1993--the first year the agency began its brownfield efforts--to determine (1) the criteria and process EPA used to award these grants and agreements, (2) the uses that recipients made of these funds, and (3) the monitoring and oversight EPA provided for them.
