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EPA Update
Environmental Information Exchange
Network Grants Awarded
Two New Superfund NPL Sites, 14 More Proposed
New EPA Redevelopment Initiative
New Report Details Brownfield Progress by 23 Federal Agencies
Environmental Information Exchange
Network Grants Awarded
EPA has awarded 67 grants totaling more than $20 million to states, territories
and tribes for continued work on the nationwide Environmental Information Exchange
Network. Thirty-two states, three U.S. territories and 18 Native American tribes
received grants under fiscal year 2004 funding.
Electronic data exchange provides federal and state governments with more timely access to environmental data from diverse sources, leading to better-informed environmental decisions.
The Exchange Network eliminates hardware or data incompatibility problems by making data transfer unnecessary. It will establish nodes, special computers that store environmental data, and the EPA will collect the data using a universal format software language: XML. Thirty-five states are expected to have operational nodes by the end of 2004.
The Exchange Network program includes three types of grants: Readiness Grants are for developing the basic information management and technology capabilities needed to participate in the network; Implementation Grants help grantees develop Exchange Network connections, nodes, and data flows; and Challenge Grants fund collaborative projects that advance the Exchange Network, including projects that result in a higher level quality of data, reduce reporting burden or provide increased public access.
Two New Superfund NPL Sites,
14 More Proposed
EPA has added two final sites and proposed 14 more sites to the Superfund National
Priorities List (NPL). The two final sites are the White Swan Cleaners/Sun Cleaners
Area Ground Water Plume site in Wall Township, N.J. and the Ravenswood PCE Ground
Water Plume site in Ravenswood, W.Va.
Historically, parties held responsible for the contamination agree to initiate or pay for, on average, 70 percent of cleanups started each year. For the newly listed sites without viable “Potentially Responsible Parties,”
EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting significant construction at the site.
There are now 68 Superfund NPL sites proposed and awaiting final agency action. With the final rule adding two sites, there are now 1,244 final sites on the NPL — 1,086 non-federal sites and 158 federal facilities. Final and proposed sites now total 1,312.
New EPA Redevelopment Initiative
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) has launched
a new initiative to promote safe, sustainable reuse and redevelopment of contaminated
property. Environmentally Responsible Redevelopment and Reuse (ER3) will provide
incentives to developers who commit to the best sustainable environmental practices
in the redevelopment and reuse of contaminated properties.
The ER3 initiative will encourage green building design, construction and operation; energy efficiency; use of renewable energy sources; environmental management systems; storm water and wastewater management; pollution prevention; waste minimization and recycling; healthy building; design for the environment; industrial ecology; sustainability; and smart growth.
Incentives include Prospective Purchaser Agreements, which provide liability relief on Superfund property, and Comfort/Status Letters, which describe the likelihood of EPA involvement at a property or clarify the cleanup progress at a site.
ER3 aims to leverage resources from other federal agencies, universities, nonprofit organizations and private organizations to expand the environmentally sound reuse and redevelopment of contaminated sites.
New Report Details Brownfield Progress
by 23 Federal Agencies
EPA has released a report detailing two years of progress by the Brownfields
Federal Partnership. The Brownfields Federal Partnership Action Agenda, which
was announced in November 2002, contained more than 100 commitments from 23
federal organizations to help revitalize communities throughout the nation.
The report demonstrates progress fulfilling the Action Agenda commitments made by all of the agencies. More than 75 percent of the commitments have been met. Some highlights of the report:
EPA awarded approximately $77 million in brownfield assessment, cleanup, revolving loan fund and job training grants to communities nationwide and $49.7 million to states and tribes to establish or enhance their brownfield programs in fiscal year 2004 alone.
EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with other partners, selected the first three portfield pilots in New Bedford, Mass., Tampa, Fla., and Bellingham, Wash. These pilots are part of a NOAA-led federal interagency effort that focuses on the redevelopment of brownfields in ports and harbors.
EPA and the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining convened a multi-agency Mine-Scarred Lands Working Group that selected six typical abandoned-mines communities throughout the country to serve as demonstration projects.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) nearly doubled the number of Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) applications by increasing their outreach and marketing efforts. In FY 2003, HUD’s support amounted to $22.4 million in BEDI grants and $87.8 million in Section 108 loans for redevelopment. Section 108 loans allow communities to transform a small portion of their HUD grants into federally guaranteed loans large enough to pursue physical and economic revitalization projects that can renew entire neighborhoods.
Click
here for a copy of the Brownfields Federal Partnership Progress Report.