Sector–Based Initiatives
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- Auto Sector Property Revitalization
- Sustainable Reuse of Brownfields: Resources for Communities
- Portfields
- Mine-Scarred Lands
- Mill Revitalization
- Railfields
- USTfields Initiative-Petroleum Brownfields
- RCRA Brownfields Prevention Initiative
Auto Sector Property Revitalization
The automobile, long a symbol of the American Dream, spurred economic development in the 20th century and created a complex industry across the United States. Many towns and cities across the country and particularly in the Midwest grew up around automotive manufacturing facilities. As these facilities close, the economic future of communities may turn on finding successful solutions for the cleanup and revitalization of the properties left behind. The brownfields created when plants close or manufacturers consolidate and relocate often sit within the urban core of our nation's communities.
The EPA report on auto sector property revitalization provides an overview of community success stories. By building strong partnerships and setting priorities for recovery and revitalization, the public and private sectors are realizing a great deal of success in addressing idle automotive facility and support industry brownfields. This report provides a background on the U.S. automotive industry and success stories and lessons learned for municipalities dealing with auto sector properties; illustrates the opportunities for sustainable redevelopment; and offers ideas to help reduce the impact of future plant closures.
- Shifting Gears: Driving Toward Auto Sector Property Revitalization (PDF) (36 pp, 2.7MB)
Publication Number: EPA 560-R-07-001
April 2008
Sustainable Reuse of Brownfields: Resources for Communities
This guide provides resources and contacts for those communities interested in redeveloping their brownfield properties in environmentally sound, economically competitive, and socially responsible ways.
- Brownfields and Sustainability (PDF) (2 pp, 426K)
Publication Number: EPA 560-F-06-247
October 2006
Portfields
Portfields is a federal interagency partnership addressing brownfields in and around port communities, with an emphasis on the development of environmentally-sound port facilities. Portfields is led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and EPA, with support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Economic Development Administration (EDA), and other federal agencies. In 2003, the Portfields federal partners selected three port communities--Bellingham, Washington; New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Tampa, Florida--to serve as pilots and demonstrate how intergovernmental collaboration can foster innovative solutions that promote economic development while protecting human health and the environment. Portfields, through increased federal, state, and local coordination, assists the Pilot Ports in leveraging resources to revitalize waterfront areas, improving marine transportation, and protecting and restoring critical habitat.
- Portfields: Charting a Course for Port Revitalization (24 pp, 1.4MB)
Publication Number: EPA-560-R-05-002
November 2005 - A Coordinated Approach to Revitalization Ports (16 pp, 1.8MB)
Publication Number: EPA 560-R-04-001
August 2004
- Success Stories: Portfields
- The Wave of the Future
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Mine-Scarred Lands
Mine-scarred lands (MSLs) are defined as lands, associated waters, and surrounding watersheds where extraction, beneficiation, or processing of ores and minerals (including coal) has occurred. These MSL properties are located on public and private land and involve complex environmental, social, and environmental issues. An interagency approach comprising nine federal agencies has been established to cleaning up and reuse these sites. These agencies makeup the MSL Working Group, which hasidentified six Demonstration Projects across the U.S. where the opportunity exists to collaborate with local stakeholders by providing technical assistance to clean up and reuse mine-scarred lands.
- Earth Conservancy Project - EPA provided financial and technical assistance to help Earth Conservancy's efforts to cleanup and reuse mine scarred lands.
- Property Fact Sheet, South Valley Parkway Corridor Lands, Luzerne County, PA (4 pp, 433K)
- Draft Final Reuse Analysis and Sustainable Redevelopment Framework - South Valley Corridor Lands, Luzerne County, PA (93 pp, 5.2M)
- Pathway To Opportunity - Redevelopment in the South Valley Corridor, Luzerne County, PA
- Mine-Scarred Lands Initiative Tool Kit
This resource shares lessons learned by the Brownfields Federal Partnership Mine-Scarred Lands (MSL) Initiative through six demonstration projects conducted across the country on both hard rock and coal sites. It features the experiences of the six projects and links to other mine cleanup and reuse resources.
- Mine-Scarred Lands Revitalization: Models through Partnerships
- Brownfields Mine-Scarred Lands Initiative Fact Sheet (4 pp, 344K)
Publication Number: EPA-560-F-04-252
September 2004 - Office of Surface Mining
- Success Stories: Dark Shade, Pennsylvania, Lights the Way to the Reuse of Mine-scarred Land Borough of Central City, PA
Mill Revitalization
Mills tell the story of America. Economic, social, and technological changes have left a legacy of abandoned and potentially contaminated mills across the country. The good news is that creative communities have found innovative approaches to revitalizing mill properties.
The EPA report on "Revitalizing America's Mills" tells the story of challenges faced and solutions found - examples that communities nation-wide can draw from in dealing with their own mill projects.
The history of U.S. mill operations predates the country itself-going as far back as the first British settlements on the North American continent 400 years ago. Mill operations were the lifeblood of those seedling communities, serving as the economic foundation and often the sole source of livelihood for residents. Mills were at the heart of the American manufacturing industry. Mills grew from our economic demand for an ever-changing variety of products. As our demands changed with technological advancements, so did the mills that manufactured the products that fueled our economy. The decline of American manufacturing industries left a legacy of vacant, often abandoned, and sometimes contaminated former mill sites. To date, EPA's Brownfields Grant Program has contributed to the revitalization of approximately 355 mill sites throughout the country.
The mill redevelopment report provides stakeholders in mill redevelopment including, communities, owners, developers, and investors with information on the successful cleanup and reuse of old mills to help them move forward with their own projects.
- Revitalizing America's Mills - A Report on Brownfields Mill Projects (32 pp, 892K)
Publication Number: EPA-560-R-06-001
November 2006
Railfields
Following the rapid growth of the rail industry in the second half of the nineteenth century was its significant decline in the twentieth century. Left behind was an extensive legacy of potentially contaminated and abandoned rail lands. The sheer extent and size of these potentially contaminated and abandoned properties inspired the establishment of EPA's Railfields Initiative. Through the initiative, EPA seeks to work together with statekholders, including other government agencies, rail companies and associations, and real estate professionals, to clean up and redevelop rail properties. Rail properties are located in rural and urban areas of every state in the nation. Prior to the advent of the Railfields Initiative, EPA's Brownfields Program dealt with rail properties through its Brownfields Pilots. Properties affiliated with 234 Brownfields Pilots, which comprise approximately one-third of the pre-Brownfields law Pilots, have rail-related components. The EPA Railfields Initiative is still in its infancy, and is being modeled after existing sector-based initiatives. Under this new initiative, EPA hopes to further the cleanup and redevelopment of rail properties.
- Successful Rail Property Cleanup and Redevelopment:
Lessons Learned and Guidance to Get Your Railfields Projects on Track (24 pp, 792K)
Publication Number: EPA-500-F-05-231
August 2005
USTfields - Petroleum Brownfields
In 2000, the Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) created the USTfields Initiative to encourage the reuse of abandoned properties contaminated with petroleum from underground storage tanks (USTs). "USTfields" are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial properties where revitalization is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination from USTs. Fifty USTfields Pilots were awarded up to $100,000 each from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund to assess, clean up, and ready for reuse high-priority petroleum-impacted sites.
In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act ("Brownfields Law") provided a provision allocating 25 percent of funding each year to assess, clean up, and ready for reuse petroleum brownfields sites. This law expanded the original EPA Brownfields Program by including relatively low-risk petroleum sites as eligible sites for Brownfields assessment and cleanup grant funding.
- Office of Underground
Storage Tanks (OUST) - USTfields Initiative
- Leaking Underground
Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund
- EPA Grants
for Petroleum Brownfields Properties
- Cleaning Up and Reusing Abandoned Gas Station Sites
Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) Brownfields Prevention
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) gives EPA the authority to control the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. RCRA also set forth a framework for the management of non-hazardous wastes. The 1986 amendments to RCRA enabled EPA to address environmental problems that could result from USTs that store petroleum and other hazardous substances. RCRA focuses only on active and future facilities and does not address abandoned or historical sites.