Featured Success Story

Heifer International
Little Rock, Arkansas

In response to the area’s continued economic and aesthetic deterioration, the city created the Adams Avenue Brownfield Redevelopment Plan. The plan involved the acquisition, demolition, cleanup, and redevelopment of 77 individual parcels along the river into a regional, intermodal transportation center.

Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties protects the environment, reduces blight, and takes development pressures off greenspaces and working lands.

Brownfields Success Stories highlight the accomplishments of EPA brownfields grantees.

Grantee accomplishments across Arkansas:

• Heifer International, Little Rock
• Port of Camden, Port of Camden

A Target Brownfields Assessment (TBA) is a free service the EPA Region 6 Brownfields Team provides to communities to support their eligible brownfields projects. These services include brownfield inventories, area-wide planning, site environmental assessments and investigations, and site cleanup planning.

To learn more about brownfields in Arkansas, visit the Region 6 Brownfields web page.

In 1988, Congress established a process to realign and close surplus military property and return the property for local economic development. The process required the President to establish the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. The Secretary of Defense proposed a list of bases for closure and realignment. The Commission held public hearings and reported its findings to the President. The President had 15 days to approve or disapprove. After approval, the recommendations were sent to Congress, which had 45 days to disapprove or the recommendations became law. There have been five Base Closure rounds: 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 2005.

The latest round of Closures includes two major facilities in Arkansas: Former Eaker Air Force Base and the Fort Chaffee Army Training Facility

Federal Facilities/Base Closures in Arkansas

• Eaker Air Force Base, Blytheville, AR
• Fort Chaffee, Fort Smith, AR

Land Revitalization (LR) efforts revive previously contaminated properties back into productive uses such as public parks, restoring wetlands and establishing new businesses. Revitalizing previously contaminated properties helps reinvigorate communities, preserve greenspace, and prevent sprawl.

To learn more about land revitalization in Arkansas, visit the Region 6 Land Revitalization web page.

The Hazardous Waste (RCRA) Corrective Action Program requires investigation and cleanup of releases of hazardous wastes and hazardous constituents that pose an unacceptable risk at RCRA hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities. Facility evaluations, conducted by EPA or the state, are based on human health and environmental risks posed by actual or potential releases to the environment, potential migration pathways, target receptors, and waste characteristics. EPA and the states designate facilities as either high, medium, or low priority.

The EPA South Central Region (Region 6) developed a Corrective Action Strategy (CAS) guideline to accelerate corrective action at RCRA facilities.

Ready for Reuse encourages cleanups that will quickly support protective redevelopment opportunities. As part of this Program, EPA and/or the states provide a regulatory "determination" that affirms that the conditions on the site are protective of human health and the environment based on the current and planned future use(s) of the property.

View a complete list of Site-Specific Determinations in Arkansas.

Superfund Redevelopment in Arkansas helps local communities return contaminated Superfund sites to safe and productive uses. EPA is working with these communities and other stakeholders - prospective purchasers, local governments - to consider reuse opportunities and to integrate appropriate reuse options into the cleanup process. Learn more about Superfund Redevelopment Initiative.

Sites in Reuse in Arkansas

• Jacksonville Municipal Landfill, Jacksonville
• Mid-South Wood Products, Mena
• Mountain Pine Pressure Treating, Plainview
• Vertac, Inc., Jacksonville

Superfund is the federal government's program to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. EPA is committed to ensuring that these hazardous waste sites are cleaned up to protect the environment and the health of all Americans.

Superfund Sites in Arkansas