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| Brownfields Weekly |
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June 14, 2001 IN THIS ISSUE:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brownfields Weekly welcomes your press releases and story ideas.
If you have a story of interest to the community-at-large, write to the
editors: Get listed on our Industry Links page! Send your link to the editors. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EPAs Superfund Reforms Report Released
Online Since its start in 1980, the Superfund program has achieved substantial progress in cleaning up hazardous waste sites and protecting human health and the environment. However, in an effort to address stakeholder criticism and to make the Superfund program work faster, fairer, and more efficiently, EPA implemented a series of far-reaching administrative improvements. In 1993, EPA's Administrator announced the first of three rounds of "Superfund Reforms." Each round of reforms consisted of various initiatives and pilots which focused on changes that could be implemented within the existing statutory framework. The reforms were intended to accomplish various goals, ranging from national programmatic changes to changes affecting individual sites at every stage of the cleanup and enforcement processes. The most recent set of reform documentation has been posted on EPAs web site. The Superfund Reforms Strategy identifies the accomplishments that can be attributed to these Reforms, as well as outlines the priorities for continuous improvement and ongoing implementation during FY 2000 and FY 2001. For a complete list of reform documentation, visit: For the FY 2000-2001 reform document, visit: NOTE: You must have Acrobat Reader to download this report. If
you don't have Acrobat Reader, get the free download below: $3.41 Million Awarded to Preserve New
Jersey Habitats, Watersheds Philadelphia, PA (ENS) - The William Penn Foundation has announced grants totaling $3.41 million to three New Jersey organizations to improve the management and protection of important habitat and watershed lands in the Garden State. The William Penn Foundation promotes understanding of and action on issues facing the Philadelphia region, including environmental and quality of life issues. Grants are being awarded to:
"New Jersey has some of our region's most precious natural resources that we need to protect now for future generations," said Dr. Janet Haas, president of the William Penn Foundation. "These three organizations have a strong track record of success in forming partnerships with public and private agencies in order to leverage resources and protect New Jersey's watershed lands." The grants are intended to help the state to achieve its 10 year goal of protecting one million acres of farmland and open space. Former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman, who now heads the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, made open space protection a cornerstone of her administration. The grants announced bring William Penn Foundation's support of the three organizations to almost $10 million since 1987. What's Up With Downtown?: Charlotte,
NC, June 24-26 In the past, being downtown meant being in place that felt unsafe, had few choices for recreation or living, and where the main occupation was planning on how to be somewhere else. Today, the changing economy and the creative efforts of economic developers, downtown advocates and private sector champions have brought a new vitality to downtowns, large and small, across the country. This conference, sponsored by The Council for Urban Economic Development (CUED) will focus on the most effective approaches to planning and developing a downtown that attracts business, jobs, investment and residents; and provides a secure venue for the growth of arts, education and entertainment. It is happening all over the country and Charlotte is a prime example of this transformation. If your organization is engaged in creating or carrying out a development strategy that includes creating a dynamic new downtown in your community, you need to attend this conference! Practitioners from across the country, representing communities large and small, will share their strategies and techniques for downtown development that have resulted in millions of dollars of new investment and the restoration of clean and safe environments in which the arts, culture, business and residents flourish. For the complete Conference program and registration information, please
visit: Get the Remediation "Road Map" Preparing Brownfields sites for productive reuse requires the integration of many elements - financial issues, community involvement, liability considerations, environmental assessment and cleanup, regulatory requirements, and more - as well as coordination among many groups of stakeholders. The assessment and cleanup of a site must be carried out in a way that integrates all those factors into the overall redevelopment process. In addition, the cleanup strategy will vary from site to site. Numerous technology options are available to assist those involved in Brownfields cleanup. EPA’s Technology Innovation Office (TIO) encourages the use of innovative and cost-effective technologies to characterize and clean up contaminated sites. Innovative technologies for evaluating the nature and extent of contamination and for addressing the cleanup of Brownfields sites hold promise for reducing the cost of cleanup and accelerating the cleanup schedule - potentially producing significant benefits to Brownfields stakeholders by reducing barriers to redevelopment that add to costs, or time schedules, or create uncertainties. The Road Map to Understanding Innovative Technology Options for Brownfields Investigation and Cleanup focuses on the site characterization and cleanup phase of Brownfields redevelopment. It introduces Brownfields stakeholders to the range of technology options and resources available to them. This Road Map also provides a framework of the logical steps involved in the characterization and cleanup of a Brownfields site in order to link technology options and resources to each of those steps. The Road Map is not an official guidance document: Instead, it draws upon EPA’s experiences with Superfund sites, corrective action sites under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and UST sites. Specific conditions - Such as the kinds and amount of contamination, the proposed reuses of the property, the financial resources available, and the level of support from neighboring communities - vary from site to site. The Road Map provides a generally applicable outline of the steps involved in the cleanup of a site slated for redevelopment. Read the EPA's Road Map at the link below: Puerto Rico Targets Brownfields in Old
Industrial Corridor During the energy crisis of the 1970s, most of the industrial operations in Puerto Rico's Route 127 corridor closed down, and those that remained reduced their level of productivity. Some properties in the corridor suspected to be contaminated have been idle for more than twenty years, with no apparent prospect for redevelopment. The economic decline of the corridor has contributed to the economic distress of families in the The unemployment rate is 25 percent in some parts of the corridor, and two-thirds of the families live below the poverty level, where the median family income is approximately $8,500. But in April of this year, the EPA selected the Puerto Rico Infrastructure Financing Authority for a Brownfields Assessment Pilot of $100,000. The Infrastructure Financing Authority, a Puerto Rico government agency, wants to revitalize the Route 127 industrial corridor as an adjunct to the Puerto Rico Transshipment Port Project. This will result in a new container transshipment port in the Caribbean. The Route 127 corridor, which runs from Guayanilla to Punuelas - the two communities that will be most influenced by the new port - is the Pilot's target area. The Infrastructure Financing Authority’s goal is to develop these brownfields in the Route 127 corridor into facilities that would support activities of the port, once it becomes operational. As part of this effort, the Pilot plans to inventory and characterize each parcel along the corridor, complete a site assessment and prepare a complete profile on one parcel, and conduct community involvement. Activities planned as part of this Pilot include creating an inventory and initial assessment of each parcel in the corridor, conducting a complete environmental site assessment and developing a Parcel Profile for one site (selected from three that have been identified as priorities in the corridor), and instituting vigorous citizen outreach and involvement, including formation of a Pilot Project Advisory Committee that will include members of the community. |