How Milwaukee Became a Center for Water Innovation

Read the full story in Governing.

The world needs water, and Milwaukee has it. More specifically, Milwaukee has water innovation. So the city is transforming itself from an old industrial center into a center for water research and technology.

 

EPA Provides Tools for Sustainable Communities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a first-of-its kind report showing how low-income, minority and tribal communities can apply smart growth land use and development strategies to create healthy communities, spur economic growth and protect the environment.

The Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities report describes how low-income, minority, and tribal communities can employ smart growth strategies to clean up and reinvest in existing neighborhoods; provide affordable housing and transportation; and improve access to jobs, parks and stores. The report also provides smart growth practitioners with concrete ideas on how they can better meet the needs of low-income residents as they promote development or redevelopment in underserved communities.

“The way communities are designed and built has an important influence on public health, the quality of our air and water, and economic vitality,” said Michael Goo, associate administrator for EPA’s Office of Policy. “EPA hopes this report will help smart growth and environmental justice advocates work together more effectively to achieve the best results possible for communities.”

“Historically, environmental justice and smart growth have been viewed as separate interests, yet communities across the U.S. are showing that they are actually complementary,” said Lisa Garcia, associate assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice. “Combining these principles and focusing on equitable development can help community-based organizations, local planners, and other stakeholders achieve healthy and sustainable communities for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or economic status.”

The report also features case studies on seven communities across the country that have used the strategies described in the report. These strategies include:

• designing safe streets for all users
• cleaning and reusing contaminated properties
• reducing exposure to facilities with potential environmental concerns
• fixing existing infrastructure before investing in new projects
• preserving affordable housing

The Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities report was developed by EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and Office of Sustainable Communities.

• More information about the report: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/equitable_development_report.htm
• More information about the Office of Environmental Justice: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice
• More information about the Office of Sustainable Communities: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth

 

EPA Announces $69.3 Million to Clean Up Contaminated Sites and Revitalize Communities

Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $69.3 million in grants for new investments to provide communities with funding necessary to clean and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and create jobs while protecting public health.

“Restored Brownfield properties can serve as cornerstones for rebuilding struggling communities. These grants will be the first step in getting pollution out and putting jobs back into neighborhoods across the country,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Clean, healthy communities are places where people want to live, work and start businesses. We’re providing targeted resources to help local partners transform blighted, contaminated areas into centers of economic growth.”

The 245 grantees include tribes and communities in 39 states across the country, funded by EPA’s Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup (ARC) grants, and Revolving Loan Fund Supplemental grants. The grants awarded will assess and clean up abandoned industrial and commercial properties. Nearly half of the grantees this year are new awardees who demonstrate a high level of commitment for undertaking specific projects and leveraging the funding to move those projects forward.

Highlights of the projects planned by grant recipients:

• DeKalb County, Ga. plans to clean up and redevelop major industrial areas served by transit and infrastructure in community areas, in addition to expanding greenspace and community-based development. One important revitalization effort is targeted for the General Motors Assembly Plant (closed in 2008), which sits at the convergence of two major corridors and the Doraville MARTA Station. Upon redevelopment, the project will reduce blight and increase the local tax base.
• Toledo, Ohio (Coalition) will use the awarded assessment grant funding to revitalize under-served neighborhoods and create local jobs at two proposed projects. The Coalition will investigate properties in the Cherry Street Corridor/Summit Street Redevelopment area to allow for the expansion of St. Vincent’s Hospital and Central Catholic High School. Secondly, the Fernwood Growing Center Area, located in an underserved, low income neighborhood, will be expanded by at least two additional sites for the use of urban agriculture.
• Paul Cuffee School, a maritime charter school for Providence public school children in Rhode Island, is receiving two EPA cleanup grants to clean and redevelop adjacent properties for a new parking lot and athletic field for students.
• Land-of-Sky, a local government planning and development organization located in N.C., will use grant funds awarded to rehabilitate the Chatham Site, a former manufacturing plant, a mill and a Western electric plant into approximately 150 multifamily rental units. The project may result in leveraging additional funding, including New Markets Tax Credits, construction permanent loans, Federal Historic Tax Credit equity, NC Mill Rehab Tax Credit equity and deferred development fees. Assessments have been completed and the project is ready to begin redevelopment.
• Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will provide a loan from its Revolving Loan Fund to the city of Kenosha for the cleanup of the Kenosha Engine Plant Cleaning site, a former Chrysler/American Motors plant. The site, once the pride of southeastern Wisconsin, will provide the community the opportunity to market the site to private investors that could bring jobs and tax revenue to the community.

Approximately 29 percent of the grants are being awarded to non-urban areas with populations of 100,000 or less, 16 percent are being awarded to “micro” communities with populations of 10,000 or less, and the remaining grants are being awarded to urban areas with populations exceeding 100,000.

There are an estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites in America. In 2011, EPA’s brownfields program leveraged 6,447 jobs and $2.14 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funds. Since its inception EPA’s brownfields investments have leveraged more than $18.3 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from a variety of public and private sources and have resulted in approximately 75,500 jobs. More than 18,000 properties have been assessed, and over 700 properties have been cleaned up. Brownfields grants also target under-served and low income neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed.

• See list of all awarded brownfields grants by state: http://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/
• More information on EPA’s brownfields program: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
• More information on brownfields success stories: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/success/index.htm

 

U.S. EPA, Dept. of Energy Launch Innovative New Tools to Determine Solar and Wind Energy Potential on Contaminated Lands

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed and launched new tools designed to test underutilized sites and contaminated land for solar and wind energy potential. The tools give local communities and landowners ways to evaluate sites for renewable energy potential without the need for technical expertise.

The alternative energy ‘decision trees,’ leverage NREL’s knowledge of renewable energy technologies and EPA’s experience in returning contaminated lands to productive use.

The EPA estimates that nationwide there are approximately 490,000 sites and almost 15 million acres of potentially contaminated properties.

“Opportunities to install renewable energy systems on vacant properties can be found in every community,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Tapping sun and wind power at brownfield sites, rooftops, parking lots, and abandoned land could provide untapped gigawatts of clean energy.”

The City of Richmond, Calif. is serving as a pilot community for development of the tools.

“Developing more local renewables is among my top priorities,” said Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. “We are extremely excited that the green, innovative City of Richmond, California is partnering with the EPA to help communities throughout the United States fully leverage technology to improve the environment, create local jobs and attract green companies.”

Positioning renewable energy on sites can increase economic value of the properties, provide a sustainable land reuse option, create local green jobs and provide clean energy for use on-site or for the utility grid. Using the decision trees, state and local governments, site owners and community members can help identify the most desirable sites for solar or wind installations from both a logistical and economic standpoint.

In addition to opportunities in cities, thousands of potentially contaminated acres in less populated areas across the country could be put to beneficial reuse with renewable energy.
The tools can be used to evaluate individual or multiple sites, such as brownfields, Superfund and other hazardous waste sites, abandoned parcels, landfills, parking lots, and commercial or industrial roofs, depending on the technology.

The tools and a podcast by the Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response on the solar and wind decision trees are now available on EPA’s website at: http://www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland

 

Project to convert vacant buildings and dumps into gardens

Read the full story from ABC 2 News.

You see them everywhere, no community is exempt, and it has no respect for like for beauty.

They are abandoned buildings and their close partners vacant lots.

They are eyesores that suck the life out of what were once vibrant neighborhoods.

But today Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and a team of visionaries are spearheading a plan that will convert this soil of despair into soil that  will help sustain life.

 

A Former Chicago Meatpacking Plant Becomes a Self-Sustaining Vertical Farm

Read the full story in GOOD.

Had Willy Wonka had been fascinated by industrial ecology instead of cocoa beans, his factory may have looked something like The Plant, Chicago’s first entirely self-sustaining “vertical farm.”

The Plant occupies a former meatpacking plant and slaughterhouse in the Union Stock Yards, transforming a huge brick building that once specialized in bringing red meat to the masses into a green space all about urban farming without waste. The interior that looks like something straight out of a scientific-environmental fantasy.

Tenants include aquaponic farms (think vegetables on water beds flourishing under colored UV lights), a tilapia fish farm, beer and Kombucha tea breweries, a mushroom garden, and a host of independent bakers and caterers that will work together in a communal kitchen space. Future plans include living walls and rooftop gardens.

 

6 Amazing Green Renovations That Turn Industrial Buildings into Architectural Gems

Read the full story at Inhabitat.

Building reuse and architectural adaptation typically lend themselves to green ideals, and over the years we have found some incredible sustainable renovations around the world. But some of the most surprising and imaginative designs weren’t old churches or updated Victorian buildings, but instead, former industrial or factory buildings that were seen as nothing more than a blight on the landscape. From a nuclear power plant turned into an amusement park to a defunct factory converted into a glittering museum space, read on after the jump for some of the most interesting and innovative green industrial renovations around the globe!

 

Cultivating Green Energy on Brownfields: A Nuts and Bolts Primer for Local Governments

Download the document.

This primer offers local governments a starting point for considering whether (and what) renewable energy facilities may be appropriate for local brownfield sites. It includes an overview of renewable energy options, tools for navigating the economic issues that determine project feasibility, information on the permitting, zoning, liability and other regulatory issues that affect the development of renewable energy projects on these sites, and suggestions for ways to promote the development of renewable energy on brownfield sites. Case examples, presented throughout the primer, demonstrate the success of existing policies and renewable energy projects operating on brownfields. The primer’s appendix provides a list of resources for more information on developing a renewable energy project on a brownfield.

 

New Resources for Development of Clean Energy on Contaminated Sites

EPA, the Department of Energy, and the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals have developed resources for local governments to cultivate renewable energy on potentially contaminated and underutilized sites.

Solar & Wind Energy Screening Decision Trees

EPA and the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab have developed draft decision trees to screen brownfields, greyfields, rooftops, abandoned parcels, and landfills for solar and wind energy potential. The solar and wind screening decision trees are designed to encourage leadership from local governments and other stakeholders in the development of renewable energy resources at the community level.

The decision trees address a gap of expertise that typically lies with solar and wind developers. They provide specific criteria in a step-by-step process, are formatted so users can evaluate either an individual site or sites across a community, and address both privately and publicly owned sites.

EPA is accepting comments on the draft decision trees through February 16, 2012, and seeks city and county volunteers to beta test the decision trees. Please email Karen Irwin at irwin.karen@epa.gov if you would like to volunteer. For more information, visit: http://www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland.

Cultivating Green Energy on Brownfields: A Nuts and Bolts Primer for Local Governments

The National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals recently released a primer that will help local governments evaluate the potential for developing renewable energy on brownfields and other contaminated sites. The resource, Cultivating Green Energy on Brownfields: A Nuts and Bolts Primer for Local Governments, serves as a starting point for local governments considering renewable energy as part of redevelopment strategies for brownfields.

 

FY2012 Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup Grant Guidelines – Request for Proposals

These grants may be used to address sites contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum). Opportunities for funding are as follows: Brownfields Assessment Grants (each funded up to $200,000 over three years; coalitions are funded up to $1,000,000 over three years), Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants (each funded up to $1,000,000 over five years) and Brownfields Cleanup Grants (each funded up to $200,000 over three years). The proposal deadline is November 28, 2011.

• Final FY2012 Brownfields Assessment Grant Guidelines (PDF) (57 pp, 340K)
• Final FY2012 Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grant Guidelines (PDF) (51 pp, 303K)
• Final FY2012 Brownfields Cleanup Grant Guidelines (PDF) (59 pp, 341K)
• Frequently Asked Questions (PDF) (47 pp, 226K)