STRUTHERS, SEBRING EPA awards grants for brownfield sites

Two local sites were among eight in Ohio to receive EPA grants.
THE VINDICATOR
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Federal dollars will be used to assess the environmental damage done decades ago at a former pottery manufacturing district in Sebring and a former steel mill site in Struthers.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded two grants totaling $324,428 for the two projects, part of $73.1 million in grants awarded to brownfields sites across the country. Eight Ohio sites received a total of $2.4 million.
Brownfields are abandoned or under-utilized properties, usually former industrial sites, where real or perceived environmental contamination has slowed redevelopment.
Struthers
The Struthers site is an 80-acre section of the CASTLO Industrial Park that runs along the Mahoning River.
Located on the former site of Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Struthers Works, the land already houses about a dozen industrial tenants, said Bill DeCicco, executive director.
DeCicco said the $170,000 grant will be used to assess hazardous substance contamination in the soil around the developed, western parts of the park. Previous grants have funded studies of the 40-acre, undeveloped eastern portion.
Sheet & amp; Tube did mostly steel processing and finishing at the Struthers works, DeCicco said, so environmental contamination at the CASTLO park may not be as serious as it could be on a site that was used to produce steel from raw materials.
CASTLO and Mahoning County are also seeking clean up funding from the state of Ohio, he said, with the ultimate goal being removal of all contaminants. "In five years we hope to be able to promote ourselves as a complete, environmentally clean site," he said.
Sebring
In Sebring, the $154,426 EPA grant will be used to do an environmental study on property that housed pottery factories operated by Royal China and other, smaller producers 30 or 40 years ago.
Most of the old buildings have been razed, said Teddy Ryan, village manager, and officials hope to redevelop the area as part of an ongoing, downtown revitalization project.
The first phase of the project is underway now, and plans call for improvements to the two block area once dedicated to pottery production by the summer of 2005. In the meantime, Ryan said, village officials would like to see what kind of environmental remediation might be needed.
vinarsky@vindy.com