FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Tom Martin, HCPC Executive Director
                395 State St.
                Ellsworth, ME  04605
                207-667-7131 (office)
                207-667-2099 (fax)
                tmartin@hcpcme.org
           
Date:      December 29, 2008

RE:         Initial Meeting of Hancock County Planning Commission Brownfields Steering Committee, January 21, 2009 from 10:00 AM to Noon, January 21, 2009 at the Ellsworth City Hall Council Chambers

The Hancock County Planning Commission Brownfields Steering Committee is holding its first meeting on January 21, 2009 from 10:00 AM to 12 noon at the Ellsworth City Hall Council Chambers.  Anyone interested in brownfields issues is invited to attend. “Brownfields,” explained HCPC Executive Director Tom Martin, “are abandoned or underutilized industrial or commercial sites whose reuse potential is restricted by actual or perceived contamination.  Examples might include abandoned automobile junkyards, closed factories or quarry operations.”

The HCPC has received a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency to fund an assessment of up to five brownfields sites and prepare clean-up plans for up to three sites. There are separate grants available for the actual clean-up of sites.  The HCPC will be working with a consultant, Campbell Environmental, which will be doing the technical work. “We need input from the region on potential sites.   Over the next few months we will be developing an initial list of sites and want to be sure we are not missing any possible opportunities,” Martin continued.

“Part of the brownfields process is finding a viable reuse for properties.   We welcome ideas from the public on how clean-up sites may be reused,” Martin concluded.  In other parts of Maine, sites have been developed for business, housing and recreational uses.