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| Brownfields Weekly |
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January 31, 2002 THIS WEEK:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MEET OUR BROWNFIELDS.COM INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS: Our new partnership with Canada's aboutREMEDIATION.COM creates a worldwide brownfields online resource network in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Europe. We're pleased to bring you these new global brownfields resources as a result of our partnership with the following web sites: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EPA New England Releases 5 Year Report
on Urban Environmental Program BOSTON, Massachusetts - EPA Region 1 announced the release of a report highlighting EPA's work on environmental issues plaguing areas in Boston, Providence and Hartford. The report, "Agents of Change: Making the Vision a Reality," documents the accomplishments of EPA New England's Urban Environmental Program over the past five years, focusing on environmental problems in Boston, Hartford and Providence. EPA New England has worked with community partners on projects that have helped reduce lead poisoning rates, turned vacant land into urban farms and community gardens, reached thousands of residents through multilingual education campaigns, and started to reduce asthma hospitalization rates in children. EPA's New England office has also awarded and managed over 110 grants worth over $3.3 million in the neighborhoods of Boston, Providence and Hartford, addressing lead poisoning, air quality, urban rivers, open space, environmental education and sustainable development. "Residents living in urban areas bear a disproportionate share of our nation's environmental problems," said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator for EPA's New England Office. "EPA New England and its community partners have made great progress in restoring the quality of the environment and improving public health in Boston, Providence and Hartford." Read "Agents of Change: Making the Vision a Reality" here. Over $1 Billion Committed to Open
Space in 2001 SAN DIEGO, California - Voters approved 137 local ballot measures for land conservation last year, committing almost $1.7 billion in funding for parks and open space, according to the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL). "Americans continue to support public land conservation to a dramatic extent," said Will Rogers, President of TPL. "As in recent years, voters across the country are eager to protect the unique landscapes of their communities, and they are willing to pay for it." Since 1998, voters have given their support to more than $19 billion in open space funding, passing 529 referenda. The final data on election year 2001 is contained in "LandVote 2001," a guide to state and local conservation funding produced by TPL and LTA. The guide was released this week in San Diego at the "New Partners for Smart Growth" conference, sponsored by Pennsylvania State University, the Local Government Commission, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "People vote for land protection for one very good reason - open space is a vital part of their everyday lives, and they see it going away," said LTA Acting President Andrew Zepp. "The large number of successful ballot measures shows that voters want to use their hard-earned tax dollars to save these open lands." For complete LandVote 2001 results, click here. Attend Phoenix, AZ Brownfields
2002 Conference The Phoenix Brownfields 2002 Conference will bring together information, experience and research to give attendees more knowledge and a greater ability to revitalize by cleaning up and redeveloping contaminated sites. This event is scheduled for the Phoenix Civic Plaza. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality's (ADEQ) Voluntary Remediation Program and the city of Phoenix's Office of Environmental Programs' Brownfields Land Recycling Program are planning the conference. Several technical sessions are being planned to discuss the details of successful redevelopment projects. For more information on attending the Phoenix Brownfields 2002 Conference,
call: Click here to visit Brownfields.com's Conferences page for the latest industry events. Rhode Island Senator Celebrates Brownfields
Bill PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island - Senator Lincoln Chafee joined the Trust for Public Land as well as federal, state and local officials at the abandoned Louttit Laundry Building in Providence to celebrate the enactment of the Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act. "Enactment of this brownfields bill is a victory for the environment, the President, and for communities across America," Chafee said. The original Senate bill was authored and introduced by Senator Chafee -- along with Senators Bob Smith (R-NH), Harry Reid (D-NV), and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) -- on February 15, 2001. It authorizes $250 million per year, over fiscal years 2002-2006, for the assessment and cleanup of brownfields sites. The measure also provides legal protections for innocent parties involved in redeveloping brownfields sites. "Today, hundreds of pieces of otherwise valuable property are now sitting idle because of brownfield liability concerns," noted Chafee, a former mayor. "These unsightly, undeveloped properties provide nothing to a city’s tax roles, while acting as a breeding ground for crime, mischief and contamination. America’s mayors know that brownfields redevelopment will carry a host of indirect benefits: city tax rolls will grow; schools will be invigorated; new homes will be built; green spaces will flourish; and community character will be restored." The Louttit Laundry Building has been vacant since 1987. In 1999, following a number of failed attempts to renovate the former dry cleaning plant, the City of Providence foreclosed on the property. The building’s interior was destroyed by fire in May 2001 -- further complicating efforts to redevelop the site. In December 1999, the RIDEM performed a base line survey followed by a Phase II site assessment that found extensive tetrachloroethylene (TCE) and oil contamination at the site. Remediation and redevelopment for the site is expected to cost at least $1.5 million. During a bill signing ceremony on January 11th at the Millennium Corporate Center in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, which was built on a former brownfield site, President Bush singled out Chafee for his efforts to reform the nation’s brownfields program. Hailing the legislation as "the best of Washington," Bush called it good public policy and an example of what can happen "when people decide to cooperate, not bicker, when people put national interests ahead of political interests." After Years of Delay, Renewal of Abandoned
Oregon Property Finally Begins For more than 10 years, an unsightly chain link fence has surrounded a piece of property just east of historic downtown Gresham, Oregon. Dilapidated and abandoned structures -- an old house, storage shed, tank, garage and miscellaneous other buildings -- make up the view. At one time the site was home to a school bus refueling and maintenance center. Eventually, the center closed. When the owners of the property died, the site became part of a family trust. The trust half-heartedly tried to clean up the site, in order to donate it to the city. With the land worth $1.2 million, the family trust could gain a tax write-off and be done with the project. Before taking on the property, however, the city hired a consultant, who discovered that the site still had contamination problems. While the City of Gresham wanted to take ownership of the property and turn it into a community asset, it could not assume unknown liability -- a problem that plagues many cities. The City of Gresham entertained two proposals for cleaning up the site. Both outlined work that was entirely different from the other, but both were prohibitively expensive. The city didn't know what to do. But when Lon Yandell, an expert on brownfields, heard about the project, he presented the city with an entirely different clean up approach. Mr. Yandell asked the city for $15,000 to study the soil. With definitive information in hand, Mr. Yandell could give the city a list of strategies for redevelopment with associated clean-up requirements and costs for each strategy. The city agreed. Mr. Yandell conducted the study, then presented the city with several options: turn the site into a parking lot; a park; a community/performing arts center with no building restrictions; or a community/performing arts center with building restrictions. The city chose the latter; the building restrictions being that the arts center had to be located on a specific piece of the property. Armed with quantifiable clean-up costs, Mr. Yandell showed the city how to enter into a Prospective Purchaser Agreement (PPA) with the Department of Environmental Quality. The city soon took ownership of the $1.2 million piece of property knowing that the clean up and redevelopment costs would not exceed $175,000. A happy ending for the property and the city, but the story doesn't end there. Recently, Mr. Yandell and the city approached the Oregon Economic Development Department (OEDD) for a grant. OEDD had grant money available -- but the money must be given before work on a project begins. He halted all planning in hopes OEDD might come through with a grant. In early November 2001, the City of Gresham received a grant of up to $50,000 from OEDD. Mr. Yandell is back in business, and the cleanup is underway -- the cost of which is much less than the initial estimate of $175,000. The city is also meeting with neighborhood and community groups to gather input on the redevelopment of the site. Mr. Yandell is hopeful that, after a decade of decay, the chain link fence will come down this fall and the city of Gresham will begin development on a new future. |