Recently in Brownfields & Sustainable Community Category

Sustainable Environment, Transportation and Housing

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced three steps to support communities' efforts to provide economic opportunity while reducing impacts on the environment. The actions will encourage state and local government to make their communities more sustainable by strategically aligning their environmental, transportation and housing investments.

The steps EPA announced for 2010 are:

• The creation of a new EPA Office of Sustainable Communities to encourage communities to take an integrated approach in making environmental, housing and transportation decisions.
• A new pilot grant program designed to help three states - New York, Maryland and California - use their clean water funding programs to support efforts to make communities more sustainable.
• A pilot program to clean up and redevelop contaminated sites, known as brownfield sites, in coordination with communities' efforts to develop public transportation and affordable housing.

Today's announcements build on the work EPA is doing with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Transportation through the Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities. The partnership is focused on ensuring that housing and transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change.

Brownfields Pilot Program

The brownfields pilot program announced today represents a key step in that partnership. Together, EPA, HUD, and DOT have selected five pilot sites across the country where there is a convergence of public transit and the need for affordable housing.

Cleaning and reusing this land and providing new housing choices will create jobs and new economic opportunities. The five sites selected for the Sustainable Communities Partnership Pilots are the

• Fairmount Line in Boston
• Smart Growth Redevelopment District in Indianapolis
• La Alma/South Lincoln Park neighborhood in Denver
• Riverfront Crossings District in Iowa City, Iowa
• Westside Affordable Housing Transit-Oriented Development in National City, Calif.

The Office of Sustainable Communities that EPA announced today will help create neighborhoods that offer good jobs, educational opportunities, safe and affordable homes and transportation options while minimizing their impact on the environment. The Pilot Technical Assistance Program for Sustainable Communities will further that goal by encouraging states to use their Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan program to better support communities that adopt sustainable strategies, like transit-oriented, mixed-use development.

More information on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities: www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/partnership.

More information on EPA's Smart Growth program

Wading through the sources of lake contamination

Contamination of urban lakes and streams by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is widespread and has been increasing over the last 40 years in the United States.

PAHs are Toxic

These PAHs can be toxic to bottom-dwelling organisms, can cause tumors in fish, and several are believed to cause cancer in humans. 

In this study, researchers examined five sources of PAHs in 40 urban lakes from across the United States, including coal-tar-based pavement sealcoat, coal combustion, oil combustion, vehicle emissions and wood combustion.

Sealcoat Contributes to PAH Contamination

Of the five sources studied, sealcoat was the strongest contributor to PAH contamination in lake sediment. This research can help those trying to reduce pollution levels in the urban environment by providing them with a better understanding of PAH sources. 

This study, "Sources of PAHs to urban lakes in the United States," was conducted by USGS at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemist  

African dust is making it across the ocean.

Increasing quantities of African dust have blown across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean and Americas over the past few decades. During that time, the dust's composition has changed.

In this study, African dust air masses in Africa and the Caribbean were analyzed for persistent organic contaminants and metals.  These potentially toxic contaminants can originate from the burning of plastics, biomass and waste; widespread use of pesticides, plastics, and pharmaceuticals; and increased industrialization.

Multiple pesticides and other contaminants, including carcinogens, suppressors of immune systems, disruptors of endocrine systems, and nervous system or liver toxins were identified from all sample sites.  All are known to persist in the environment, accumulate in organisms, and are toxic at very low concentrations.

This study, "Chasing clouds of dust: transoceanic transport of synthetic organic pollutants and trace metals with African dust," is from USGS at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 

Sustainable South Bronx is fighting for "THE PROMISE OF AMERICA" by using the green economy to help people grow out of poverty and the dirty community that results from environmentally degrading industry traditions. Restoring the environment can also restore the people who live there because we are PART of the ecosystem. Unemployment, asthma, crises...they have personal and financial stake in the environment.  Their BEST program  trains youth for ecological restoration: urban forestry management, green roof installation, brown field restoration, etc.

Environmental Justice

through innovative, economically sustainable projects

that are informed by community needs.

VIDEO with Majora Carter, founder

 

Founded in 2001 by life-long South Bronx resident, Dr. Majora Carter, SSBx also addresses land-use, energy, transportation, water & waste policy, and education to advance the environmental and economic rebirth of the South Bronx, and inspire solutions in areas like it across the nation and around the world.

Watch video clips from the 2008 Aspen Environment Forum

http://www.aspenenvironment.org/live-from-the-forum

TechDirect, hosted by the U.S. EPA's Technology Innovation Program, is an information service that highlights new publications and events of interest to site remediation and site assessment professionals. At the beginning of every month, the service, via e-mail, will distribute a message describing the availability of publications and events. For publications, the message will explain how to obtain a hard copy or how to download an electronic version.

Technology News and Trends is a newsletter for environmental professionals that features a combination of articles on innovative, in-situ technologies for the characterization and treatment of soil, sediment, and ground water. Technology News and Trends replaces Tech Trends and Ground Water Currents, which were published from 1992 through 2002. Technology News and Trends is published quarterly.

Technology Innovation News Survey contains market/commercialization information; reports on demonstrations, feasibility studies and research; and other news relevant to the hazardous waste community interested in technology development. This report is updated each month.

Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) is published weekly. This update contains summaries of procurement and contract award notices issued the previous week that pertain to hazardous waste, solid waste, underground storage tank remediation, and other environmental topics. However, it does not necessarily contain EVERY notice on these topics.

Subscribe to these helpful publications at www.clu-in.org

Incorporating Sustainable Environmental Practices into Remediation of Contaminated Sites

Green remediation is the practice of considering all environmental effects of remedy implementation and incorporating options to maximize the net environmental benefit of cleanup actions.

Green remediation reduces the demand placed on the environment during cleanup actions, otherwise known as the “footprint” of remediation, and avoids the potential for collateral environmental damage. The potential footprint encompasses impacts long known to affect environmental media:

• Air pollution caused by toxic or priority pollutants such as particulate matter and lead,
• Water cycle imbalance within local and regional hydrologic regimes,
• Soil erosion and nutrient depletion as well as subsurface geochemical changes,
• Ecological diversity and population reductions, and
• Emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and other greenhouse gases contributing to climate change.

Opportunities to increase sustainability exist throughout the investigation, design, construction, operation, and monitoring phases of site remediation regardless of the selected cleanup remedy. As cleanup technologies continue to advance and incentives evolve, green remediation strategies offer significant potential for increasing the net benefit of cleanup, saving project costs, and expanding the universe of long-term property use or reuse options without compromising cleanup goals.

EPA’s regulatory programs and initiatives actively support site remediation and revitalization that result in beneficial reuse such as commercial operations, industrial facilities, housing, greenspace, and renewable energy development. The Agency has begun examining opportunities to integrate sustainable practices into the decision-making processes and implementation strategies that carry forward to reuse strategies. In doing so, EPA recognizes that incorporation of sustainability principles can help increase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of cleanup.

The PRIMER: Green Remediation

This primer outlines the principles of green remediation and describes opportunities to reduce the footprint of cleanup activities throughout the life of a project.

Best management practices (BMPs) outlined in this document help decision-makers, communities, and other stakeholders (such as project managers, field staff, and engineering contractors) identify new strategies in terms of sustainability.

These strategies complement rather than replace the process used to select primary remedies that best meet site-specific cleanup goals. The primer identifies the range of alternatives available to improve sustainability of cleanup activities and to help decision-makers balance the alternatives within existing regulatory frameworks.

To date, EPA's sustainability initiatives have addressed a broader scope or focused on individual elements of green remediation such as clean energy (April 2008, 54 pages).

View or download this primer by th EPA at http://clu-in.org/techpubs.htm .

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency  awarded $4.2 million in Brownfields grants to 12 Northern California community redevelopment agencies in April, 2008.

The groups will use the grants to develop inventories and assess sites contaminated by hazardous substances, clean up contaminated sites, and support community outreach activities.

“The EPA is very pleased to provide funding for work in these deserving Northern California communities," said Debbie Schechter, manager of EPA’s Pacific Southwest region’s Brownfields program. "Work conducted under our Brownfields grants will provide the type of assistance necessary to transform these underutilized lands into community assets."

Communities and agencies in 43 states, two tribal nations and two territories will share over $74 million in Brownfields grants designed to help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites and allow for productive community use.

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. The EPA’s Brownfields program authorizes up to $250 million in grant funds annually and encourages redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

Grants have been given to the following groups:

- California Department of Toxic Substances Control and the communities of Sutter Creek and Jackson - $200,000 to create an inventory of sites contaminated by hazardous substances, input site information into geographic information system, and conduct environmental site assessments;

- Yolo County - $400,000 to create an inventory of sites contaminated by hazardous substances and petroleum, conduct environmental site assessments, and support community outreach activities;

- City of West Sacramento - $200,000 to cleanup a site contaminated with hazardous substances;

- City of Tulare - $200,000 to remove hazardous substances from a local site, assist in cleanup planning and oversight, and support community involvement activities;

- City of Sutter Creek - $200,000 to conduct an environmental site assessment for hazardous substances, and support community involvement activities;

- Satellite Housing, Inc. of Manteca - $200,000 to remove hazardous pesticides, and support community involvement activities;

- Petaluma Community Development Commission - $1 million for hazardous substances and petroleum cleanup, and to support community involvement activities;

- Humboldt County - $400,000 to develop an inventory of sites contaminated by hazardous substances and petroleum, conduct environmental site assessments, and support community involvement activities;

- Fresno Redevelopment Agency - $200,000 to address hazardous substances contamination, and support community involvement activities;

- City of Eureka - $600,000 for hazardous substances cleanup and support community outreach activities;

- City of Emeryville - $400,000 to conduct environmental site assessments for sites contaminated by hazardous substances and petroleum; and

- Sacramento Capitol Area Development Authority - $200,000 to remove hazardous substances from a more than century-old residential site.

Since the beginning of the Brownfields program, the EPA has awarded 1,255 assessment grants totaling over $298.6 million, 230 revolving loan fund grants totaling over $217.7 million, and 426 cleanup grants totaling $78.7 million.

For more information, please visit:  http://epa.gov/brownfields/