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2003 International Phoenix Awards Program Call for Nominations The Phoenix Awards program values your hard work in your communities and wants to honor you and your project! The 2003 Phoenix Awards will be one of the highlights of this year’s National Brownfields Conference, Brownfields 2003, in Portland, Oregon on October 27-29, 2003. The Phoenix Awards are the premier awards for achievement of excellence in brownfield redevelopment. Created in 1997, this prestigious award honors individuals and groups who are working to solve the critical environmental problem of transforming abandoned industrial areas into productive new uses. In each of the previous years, The Phoenix Awards recognized outstanding brownfields projects from across the United States. This year, for the first time, The Phoenix Awards program will recognize projects from around the world. Expanding the program to include international projects is a reflection of the growing prominence of brownfields projects worldwide. Since the creation of the Phoenix Awards, 52 projects have been honored. This year, one Phoenix Awards winner will be selected from each of the EPA’s 10 regions. In addition, one winner will be selected from the international projects. Additional winners will be selected for “Community Impact Awards” that recognize participants for their exceptional projects in smaller communities. A grand prizewinner will be selected from among all the chosen winners. Any individual, group, government body or agency, company or organization is eligible to apply for a Phoenix Award. Phoenix Award winners will showcase their projects at the Brownfields 2003 Conference and will be presented with handcrafted crystal trophies at a special awards ceremony. Award winners will receive international publicity and recognition in professional journals and newspapers and on the Internet. Successful projects also serve as models and inspiration for other communities. Past Phoenix Awards winners are real-life examples of the accomplishments that can arise from new brownfields initiatives worldwide. These projects represent a blend of disciplines, including the environmental consulting community, the public, real estate developers, bankers, economic development agencies, attorneys, and federal, state, and local government. These groups figured it out – and they are models for each one of us. Last year’s 12 winners remediated and redeveloped more than 480 acres of land, and created over 17,000 new jobs, with thousands more expected in the future. Apply soon! The 2003 Phoenix Awards deadline is July 18, 2003. For an application, visit The Phoenix Awards web site at http://www.phoenixawards.org today! EPA Circulating Draft Guidance on Institutional Controls Several offices at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) are circulating a draft guidance on institutional controls. According to EPA, “This guidance is intended to: (1) provide Superfund, Brownfields, Federal facility, Underground Storage Tank (UST), and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) corrective action site managers and site attorneys with an overview of responsibilities for the implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of institutional controls (ICs) at their sites; and (2) discuss some of the common issues site managers and site attorneys may encounter when carrying out these responsibilities.” The draft guidance, Institutional Controls: A Guide to
Implementing, Monitoring, and Enforcing Institutional Controls at
Superfund, Brownfields, Federal Facility, UST, and RCRA Corrective
Action Cleanups, February 2003, is available as a 644K .pdf
file from http://www.epa.gov/superfund/action/ic/guide.htm.
Comments are due by April 19, 2003. Environmental Business Solutions Completes Site Assessments for New Cortez Park Lofts in Downtown San Diego Environmental Business Solutions, an SCS Engineers company, has completed Phase I environmental assessments for the site of Cortez Park Lofts, a new $31 million loft apartment project currently under development in the Cortez Hill neighborhood of downtown San Diego, California. A commercial building and parking lot currently occupy the project site, located along the south side of Date Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. The site is being redeveloped to accommodate Cortez Park Lofts, a new five-story complex encompassing 179 residential units and 187 parking spaces. Construction is scheduled to begin mid-2003, with completion slated for late 2004. As part of its Phase I assessment work, Environmental Business Solutions performed site reconnaissance and research, regulatory agency record review, historical land use review, and water quality surveys. The assessment concluded that no recognized environmental conditions existed at the site as a result of hazardous materials/wastes from a known historical site or nearby land use. For more information about the project, contact Bonnie Kutch or
Sarah Daoust at (619) 299-1010 or via e-mail at info@kutchco.com. Former Rail Yard Becomes a Connecticut River Interpretive Center Construction is currently underway on the Bellows Falls (VT) Waypoint Interpretive Center that will bridge two neighboring communities across the Connecticut River. Using a portion of a $350,000 EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant, the Windham Regional Commission performed site assessment and monitoring to complete work necessary prior to redevelopment. Partners included the town of Rockingham, Bellows Falls Village, and Windham Regional Commission (WRC). WRC and Housing Vermont served as the project managers with technical assistance provided by the Vermont Agency of Transportation and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (VANR). Bellows Falls, with a population of 3,165, is an incorporated village within the town of Rockingham, which itself consists of 42 square miles and an overall population of 5,300. Bellows Falls was the site of the first bridge crossing the Connecticut River and is a National Register Historic District. The village serves as the center for the town and provides commercial services for the smaller communities in the area. The Bellows Falls Waypoint Interpretive Center is in a unique location to provide the visitor both a window to the past and a jumping off point to explore the Connecticut River Valley today. The Bellows Falls Waypoint Interpretive Center, part of the Connecticut River Byway project, will eventually tie in with ten centers stretching along the Connecticut River from the Vermont/Massachusetts border to the Canadian border. Ultimately, the project plan calls for centers to be located approximately every 25 to 35 miles along the river. In addition to the Bellows Falls Waypoint Center, other centers are now underway, including those in Windsor, Vermont and Colebrook, Claremont, and Lancaster, New Hampshire. After more than three years in the planning stages, the intent of the Connecticut River Byway project is to draw interest to the Connecticut River Valley’s unique historical, scenic, recreational, and natural resource attributes, according to Susan L. McMahon, Senior Planner for the Windham Regional Commission. “The purpose of the Byway is to get people off the interstate and exploring the valley’s back roads.” This enhanced tourist experience will result in visitors spending more time and dollars in Bellows Falls, the Windham Region, and, in particular, Connecticut River Scenic Byway communities. Additional benefits of this project include the creation of 70 new construction jobs. Environmental assessment and monitoring work for this project cost approximately $30,000 and was performed by ATC out of their Richmond, Vermont office. Monitoring determined tetrachloromethane (TCE) in groundwater exceeding Vermont Groundwater Enforcement Standards (VGES). The state requested groundwater monitoring/sampling and after one year of monitoring, results showed that no further action was required. VANR did request that a notification to the town land records about the site be submitted. Once the notification is complete and monitoring wells are closed, the state plans to issue a Site Management Activity Complete letter to close out the site. The Connecticut River was the first major river in the country to be improved for travel. In order to allow passage around the narrow and the highest waterfall on the river, Bellows Falls Canal Co., the first canal company chartered in 1791, constructed a canal that provided power to mills and allowed lumber and barges to bypass the gorge through a series of nine locks. In the mid-1850s, railroads replaced the river as the prime means of transport, and in 1898 a utility began to use canal water to general electricity. In 1996, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont received funding from the Federal Highway Administration Scenic Byway program to study the feasibility of developing a byway along the Connecticut River. Working with the towns along each side of the river, the regional commissions inventoried the historic, cultural, scenic, recreational, and natural resources of the Connecticut River Valley. It became apparent that the concept of “waypoint” communities fit with the goals of the byway. The Waypoint Communities would be “crossroads” communities that could offer amenities such as lodging, restaurants, public restrooms, and referrals to activities and sites in the region. The Connecticut River Tri-State Byway study was completed in 1998 and in February 1999, the Vermont portion of the project was designated by the state as a “Vermont Byway.” In October 1999, the Connecticut River Byway Council formed and the Byway was well on its way. Meetings began in 2000 to plan for the design of the Bellows Falls Center. Groundbreaking for the Center occurred in July 2002 and in September 2002, a major milestone for the community occurred when the “Arch” returned to Bellows Falls as part of the overall building design. As designed by Scully Architects of Keene, New Hampshire, the Center represents a train locomotive and railroad station canopy with the building passing under an arch evocative of the old arch bridge that was demolished in 1982. The Arch Bridge spanned the Connecticut River between Bellows Falls and North Walpole, New Hampshire and was the longest suspension bridge in North America at the time of its construction in 1905/1906. Closed in 1971 due to safety concerns, it was demolished in 1982 and replaced by the current steel girder bridge. The arch bridge still lives on in the hearts of area residents. The Center will be open to the public in the summer of 2003. The total redevelopment costs are anticipated to be more than $1.26 million. Sources of funding for the construction of the facility include grants from the Federal Highways Scenic Byway Program, Housing Vermont, Vermont Agency of the Transportation Enhancement Grants, the Windham Foundation, the Connecticut River Joint Commissions Partnership program, and the Southern Vermont Regional Marketing Organization. For more information visit http://www.ctrivertravel.net, http://www.rpc.windham.vt.us, and http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/wastediv/sms/RCPP/rcpp.htm. EPA Looking for Pollution Prevention Award-Winning Programs EPA Region 7 is seeking applications for pollution prevention awards for environmental excellence from businesses in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. The awards honor businesses for environmental excellence in eliminating or reducing waste at the source. The goals are to eliminate or reduce waste generation, to conserve natural resources and materials, to reduce the use of hazardous materials, and to promote the use of more energy-efficient equipment. The deadline to submit applications is July 15, 2003. Winners will be announced this fall. Applications are available from Jennifer Anderson of EPA at (913) 551-7644, by FAX at (913) 551-7521, or on the Web at http://www.epa.gov/region07/volprog/. |
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