Community Development Department staff are currently working to establish a Citywide Brownfields program that will include an inventory of potentially contaminated sites and a set of brownfields redevelopment tools. The Brownfields Program, Inventory & Assessment project is being funded by several grants from the USEPA.  Please visit the Blue Island Brownfields Initiative website for more details and for information on how to get involved!

Community Health Monitoring

2009 Brownfields Cleanup Proposal

$200,000 – Cleanup of NE Mixed-Use Commercial Park (former landfill at 119th/Vincennes)
The City of Blue Island was awarded a 2009 USEPA Cleanup Grant to help offset redevelopment costs at the former landfill at 119th/Vincennes. Public discussion on this grant proposal occurred during the regularly scheduled Plan Commission meeting held on November 12, 2008.

If you have any question about this project, please contact the Community Development Department at 708.396.7036 or email. Please visit the USEPA Brownfields website or download the Brownfields 2009 Grant Fact Sheet for Blue Island for more details on this award.

2008 Brownfields Assessment Grant Award  -  $400,000

$200,000 for hazardous substances$200,000 for petroleum
Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to conduct a brownfields inventory and prioritize sites in the South Cargo-Oriented Development Area. Grant funds also will be used to perform up to 25 Phase I and two Phase II environmental site assessments. Petroleum grant funds will be used to conduct a brownfields inventory, prioritize sites, and perform 12 Phase I and three Phase II environmental site assessments in the Cargo- and Transit-Oriented Development Areas. Grant funds also will be used to support community outreach activities.Activities associated with the 2008 award are scheduled to begin in Fall 2008.  Please visit the USEPA Brownfields website or download the Brownfields 2008 Grant Fact Sheet for Blue Island for more details on this award.

2007 Brownfields Assessment Grant Award – $200,000

$200,000 hazardous substances grant funds were used to develop a city-wide brownfields inventory and to prioritize sites in areas targeted for transit-oriented development. Grant funds were also used to conduct Phase I and II environmental site assessments.  Please visit the USEPA Brownfields website or download the Brownfields 2007 Grant Fact Sheet for Blue Island for more details on this award. Activities associated with the 2007 award are now complete – ran from August 2007-December 30, 2010. Please visit our 2007 Brownfields Assessment Grant project page for a summary!

2006 IEPA Municipal Brownfields Redevelopment Grant - $240,000

IEPA MBRG funds have been used to perform Phase I & Phase II Environmental Investigations on the former landfill site at 119th/Vincennes. The property has been enrolled in the IEPA volunteer Site Remediation Program (SRP) since receiving the award in 2006.

Additional Resources

• USEPA Region 5 LibraryServices include reference/research assistance and interlibrary loan/document delivery. Core library services and local collections are supported and supplemented by additional services provided by the Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center Library in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The public is welcome to visit the library, by appointment, and use library materials onsite. Members of the public or students wishing to borrow materials and unable to visit should contact their local public, school, or university library and ask for an Interlibrary Loan.
• The EPA Online Library System (OLS). The Online Library System (OLS) for EPA’s National Library Network consists of several related databases that comprise the shared library catalog. Use OLS to locate books, reports, journals, and audiovisual materials on a variety of topics. Then contact your local public, corporate or academic library to arrange for a loan.
• Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA): Citizens Information Center. Find information on a wide range of environmental topics, including local resources and environmental issues, opportunities to get involved and tips for living ‘green’.
• Earth911: Find services such as recycling and reuse centers, household hazardous waste collection sites, electronics recycling, used oil recycling, paint recycling and disposal, battery recycling, and used tire collections. Earth 911 is non-profit organization created for the purpose of providing environmental education and awareness. Partners include U.S. EPA, the National Governors’ Association, and state and local governments.