Environmental Matters in the Commonwealth of Kentucky

U.S. EPA awarded the Buffalo Trace Area Development District a $200,000 Brownfields assessment grant. Located in northeastern Kentucky, the five-county Buffalo Trace region has a population of 55,229. For years, the region’s economy depended on the tobacco industry. Changes in the tobacco industry have forced farmers to switch to alternative crops, leaving many tobacco warehouses standing empty. These warehouses and other area brownfields are blights on the landscape, pose potential health risks to nearby residents, and adversely affect revitalization. The Buffalo Trace region has a poverty rate of nearly 20 percent, and the median household income is below state and national averages. The unemployment rate exceeds state and national averages. Brownfields assessment is expected to help the Buffalo Trace Area Development District attract developers and promote reuse of sites for commercial, residential, and greenspace development.