THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

                          VICE PRESIDENT GORE 
                    DECLARES STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT 
            ONE OF FIRST BROWNFIELDS SHOWCASE COMMUNITIES

                   CITY TO RECEIVE UP TO $1 MILLION 
            FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP AND REVITALIZATION

WASHINGTON, DC -- Vice President Gore today declared Stamford, Connecticut as one of the first sixteen cities to be declared a Brownfields Showcase Community and awarded the city up to $1 million for environmental cleanup and economic revitalization.

Tomorrow, the Vice President will announce all the first 16 Brownfields Showcase Communities. These communities will receive targeted assistance from 15 federal agencies for brownfields cleanup and revitalization as part of the Clinton Administration's Brownfields National Partnership -- the single, largest federal commitment to cleanup and revitalize brownfields.

As a Brownfields Showcase Community, Stamford will receive the funding as well as targeted assistance from 15 federal agencies to cleanup and revitalize three local brownfields in two low-income neighborhoods by the city's harbor. The project will cleanup a 40-acre former gas plant to make way for commercial and housing complexes, a sports arena, a fire station and a ferry terminal. A 17-acre former fuel and oil depot will be cleaned up and converted to park land, housing complexes and office space. And, a 22-acre former manufacturing complex and foundry will be cleaned up and rebuilt for housing, retail and industrial use.

"In the spirit of St. Patricks's Day, we are bringing more green to America's urban communities. Across the nation, abandoned industrial properties are robbing communities and neighborhoods of the opportunity to share in the nation's economic progress," said the Vice President. "Right from the very start, this Administration has helped cities and communities clean up these brownfields' and return them to sources of economic vitality, of jobs, of community pride."

"As a Brownfields Showcase Community, Stamford will have the full force of the federal government and the private sector behind it to guarantee stronger and healthier neighborhoods for the 21st century -- places where our children can grow, our families can thrive, and the economy is sure to prosper," said the Vice President.

Today's announcement builds on a 5-year effort by the Clinton Administration to revitalize communities through redeveloping Brownfields -- abandoned pieces of land, usually in inner cities, that are lightly contaminated from previous industrial use. Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has taken a series of actions to clean up and redevelop Brownfields and return them to productive use, including creating a national model to determine the best way to revitalize communities; providing seed money to 121 communities for revitalization; removing legal barriers to redevelopment; and providing a targeted tax incentive to businesses that purchase and clean up these sites. Communities from Cleveland to Sacramento are gaining new jobs, a new tax base, and new hope.

In May, 1997, Vice President Gore announced the Brownfields National Partnership -- a two-year federal investment of $300 million for Brownfields cleanup and redevelopment -- which will bring together the resources of more than 15 Federal agencies to collaborate and address local cleanup and revitalization issues. As part of the Brownfields National Partnership, the Vice President tomorrow will announce the selection of the first 16 communities to serve as Brownfields Showcase Communities -- which will receive targeted assistance and serve as models for future cooperation among federal, state and local governments and the private sector in cleaning up and revitalizing communities.

###