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Press Conference Set to Present $100,000 for Superfund Redevelopment

Release Date: 7/23/1999
Contact Information: For more information contact the Office of External Affairs at (214) 665-2200.

    The City of Houston has been selected to receive one of 10 pilot grants being awarded nationwide under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) innovative Superfund Redevelopment Initiative. EPA Regional Administrator Gregg Cooke will present the grant to Houston Mayor Lee Brown at a press conference July 26. U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee also will attend to join in congratulating the City.

     The pilot program is an example of the Administration's efforts to create jobs and promote economic redevelopment in communities saddled with abandoned hazardous waste sites. The Superfund Redevelopment Initiative will provide another avenue for EPA to work with local governments and businesses and citizens to transform old toxic waste sites into new parks, neighborhoods or thriving commercial areas.

     Houston will receive $100,000 to conduct reuse assessments and public outreach to help determine how best to redevelop the former MDI property in the Fifth Ward. Nearly $1 million is being awarded nationally.

     WHEN:   10:30 a.m., Monday, July 26, 1999

     WHERE:  Fifth Ward Multipurpose Center, auditorium
             4014 Market Street, Houston, Texas

     PARTICIPANTS: EPA Regional Administrator Gregg Cooke
                   U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee
                   Houston Mayor Lee Brown
                   Officials with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
                   Officials with the Texas Health Department                

Fact Sheets on the Superfund Redevelopment Initiative, the MDI Superfund Site and the Better America Bonds program will be available in press kits at the press conference.