[ADEQ Media] ADEQ Director Steve Owens Announces $50, 000 Grant to St. Johns for Assessment of a Brownfields Site

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

ADEQ Director Steve Owens Announces $50,000 Grant to St. Johns for
Assessment of a Brownfields Site

PHOENIX (May 7, 2008) -Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Director Steve Owens today announced that ADEQ is awarding a $50,000
Brownfields grant to the City of St. Johns in Apache County to conduct
an environmental evaluation of a former gas station and car dealership
site where the City wants to build its new City Hall.  The property is
located at 70 E. Commercial Street in St. Johns.

Several underground storage tanks were operated on the property, but the
tanks were closed years ago. The grant will be used to perform a Phase I
Environmental Site Assessment to determine if the property has any
contamination from petroleum or other substances.  The assessment will
be used to determine if further study or cleanup is needed. 

"Our Brownfields program helps communities like St. Johns evaluate
properties for potential environmental problems and then puts those
properties back into productive use for the community," Director Owens
said. "This grant not only will help the City put a blighted vacant
property back to good use, it also will give St. Johns a great location
for its new City Hall.  We are very pleased to work with the City on
this important project." 

ADEQ will serve as the project manager and will hire a contractor to
perform the site assessment work.  Two private parties currently own the
site and are donating it to the City.

A Brownfield is an abandoned or under-used property with an active
redevelopment potential that suffers from known or perceived
environmental contamination.

Director Owens awarded St. Johns another Brownfields grant in August
2007 to perform an Environmental Site Assessment of a 5-acre former
uncontrolled construction dump site where the City plans to expand its
public cemetery, to determine if the site has been contaminated by the
illegal dumping.  The site is a vacant land parcel located immediately
north of the City Yard facility at 405 W. 4th North Street, near the
current cemetery.  

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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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