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Former industrial sites to be tested for contamination
By mary Grzebieniak
NEW CASTLE, Pa.
A $200,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will provide for assessment of high-priority former industrial sites in Lawrence County with an eye toward making them eligible for redevelopment.
The assessments will take about a year and a half to complete, said Linda Nitch, executive director of Lawrence County Economic Development Corporation on Tuesday. She said the work will be bid out to firms to examine the sites for chemical contamination.
She said this type of assessment is required by banks before they will lend money for redevelopment of old industrial sites. If the site tests positive, then a second-phase assessment is required.
Grant money is available for further testing and cleanup from several sources, including the U.S. EPA and from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. She said the money is more likely to be awarded to sites that have a prospective developer.
Nitch said that a priority list is being prepared and several already at the top of the list are the former Remacor property in West Pittsburgh, the former American Cyanimad property off Pa. Route 551 in North Beaver Township and the former Shenango China property off Grant Street in New Castle. Old railroad beds are targeted because they usually are located near heavy industry.
Several sites in Lawrence County have already been cleaned and returned to usefulness, Nitch said, including the former Johnson Bronze plant and the DuPont Plant/junkyard located behind the former Shenango China plant on U.S. Route 422 west.
Nitch said that LCEDC is working hard to help local companies to grow because that is where the majority of jobs are coming from.
On Tuesday, Lawrence County commissioners accepted the grant on behalf of the LCEDC, which will administer it.