[ADEQ Media] ADEQ Director Steve Owens Announces Additional $115, 000 Grant to Winslow to Finish Cleanup of "Standin' on the Corner" Site

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

ADEQ Director Steve Owens Announces Additional $115,000 Grant to Winslow
to Finish Cleanup of "Standin' on the Corner" Site

ADEQ Funding to City Now Totals $315,000

PHOENIX (May 30, 2007) - Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
(ADEQ) Director Steve Owens today announced that ADEQ is awarding an
additional $115,000 grant to the City of Winslow in Navajo County to
finish the cleanup of the "Standin' on the Corner" monument and reopen
the park at the site.

The new award brings ADEQ's total funding for the cleanup to $315,000,
which is the largest amount of funding ADEQ has ever provided to a
community under the department's Brownfields State Response Grant
program. "This is an unprecedented amount of money under our Brownfields
program," Owens said, "but it will be worth every penny of it to get the
Standin' on the Corner site cleaned up and the park reopened."

Owens said that ADEQ has previously provided roughly $200,000 to Winslow
for the cleanup, but it recently became clear that additional funding is
needed to complete the cleanup because of recent complications on the
site. Because the money is coming from federal dollars under ADEQ's
Brownfields program, however, ADEQ had to receive a special waiver from
EPA to give Winslow more than $200,000. Owens added that because of the
importance of this cleanup project, he personally contacted EPA's Deputy
Administrator in Washington, DC, the second-in-command at the agency, to
expedite approval of the waiver.

"The Standin' on the Corner monument is a very special place, and we put
on a full-court press to get the waiver approved," Owens said. "Winslow
deserves the extra money, and we appreciate EPA's willingness to work
with us to provide the funding to the City." 

The Standin' on the Corner park and monument were closed after a fire
gutted the former J.C. Penney/Rasco Building in October 2004 and created
an environmental hazard. A mural on an exterior wall of the building is
an integral part of the park, but fire damage rendered the wall
unstable, making the park unsafe for visitors. Concerns about asbestos
contamination in the charred rubble have prevented efforts to remove the
debris and reopen the park.
 
The City of Winslow has been implementing a cleanup plan with the grant
funds provided by ADEQ. In addition to providing the funding, ADEQ will
continue to work with the city and provide technical oversight of the
cleanup.

-end-

News media interested in additional information on this or any other
topic concerning the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality should
contact the Office of Communications at (602) 771-2215 or via email at
communications@azdeq.gov.

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