EPA Region 4 – Oak Ridge East Tennessee Technology Park Reindustrialization Program, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

By William J. Biloski, Bechtel Jacobs Co. LLC and Larry W. Clark, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Photography by U.S. Department of Energy

Through its innovative Reindustrialization Program, the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations (DOE-ORO) is creating new jobs, facilitating cost-effective environmental cleanup, and promoting regional economic development. Oak Ridge, Tennessee was one of the original Secret Cities built to support World War II nuclear weapons production. Since the end of the Cold War, those needs and the federal budgets to support them have declined. The Reindustrialization Program is dedicated to returning the facilities to their once productive use. Companies leasing space at East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) often decontaminate their facilities for reduced lease rates in a unique application of “sweat equity.” DOE-ORO has also used non-traditional contract strategies to fund cleanup of facilities for future use, often trading the value of assets in the buildings for cleanup services.

Aerial View

Interior of Warehouse

Plant Interior

A key element to the success of the Reindustrialization Program is the relationship between the program’s partners – DOE-ORO, the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET), and Bechtel Jacobs Company, LLC. DOE-ORO leases underutilized assets to CROET, which in turn subleases them to interested businesses. Bechtel Jacobs Company, a DOE-ORO prime contractor, provides technical support throughout the leasing process. This partnership is unique in that all three parties – a federal agency, a not-for-profit corporation, and a contractor – have worked together as a team to accomplish a common mission.

Realizing the immediate benefits to the community, reindustrialization gained quick acceptance among local and regional citizens and governmental officials. The project created over 1,200 jobs with more than $40 million in new annual payroll. While the immediate job-creation benefits are apparent, the program demonstrates DOE’s commitment to long-term regional economic diversification. In 2008, ETTP is expected to be a self-sustaining regional business center, providing thousands of private sector jobs to workers in the nine-county East Tennessee area, thus drastically reducing reliance on government programs.

The East Tennessee Technology Park offers businesses:

• 1,300 acres located only minutes from Interstates 40 and 75;
• 750 acres and 15 million sq. ft. of floor space located within a security fence;
• 26 miles of paved roads;
• 9.5 miles of railroad, plus a barge terminal that leads to the Gulf of Mexico; and
• World’s largest industrial building (2.8 million sq. ft.) available for lease.

Over 6 million square feet of building space is currently undergoing transition to meet environmental cleanup goals via program initiatives. Portions of the floor space have been released for redevelopment through barter arrangements. Contractors exchange cleanup services for assets and/or below-market leaset payments.

Project accomplishments to date include the following:

• Decontamination of 2.75 million square feet of facility space;
• Leasing of 1.2 million square feet of floor space;
• Recycling of 41,000 tons of material and equipment.

Reindustrialization of the East Tennessee Technology Park is a first-of-its-kind project in terms of project size, the presence of low-level radioactive contamination in addition to standard brownfields contamination, and the need for environmental cleanup to proceed concurrently with site redevelopment. With no pre-existing roadmap to follow, the Reindustrialization Team created a program that has proven to be a model for federal interagency partnership worthy of a national environmental award. Communities and government agencies across the United States and abroad can use the model to accelerate cost-effective cleanup of former industrial sites for reuse.

The Oak Ridge East Tennessee Technology Park Reindustrialization Program clearly illustrates the promise of cooperative public/private partnerships in working toward the good of the community.

For further information about this project, contact Larry Clark at (865) 576-2678 or via e-mail at clarklw@oro.doe.gov.

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