EPA 500-R-96-002
December 1996
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, URBAN REVITALIZATION,
AND BROWNFIELDS:
THE SEARCH FOR AUTHENTIC SIGNS OF HOPE
A Report on the
"Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields:
Envisioning Healthy and Sustainable Communities"
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
Waste and Facility Siting Subcommittee
Charles Lee, Chair
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
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This report was written by the Waste and Facility Siting Subcommittee of the National
Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC). The NEJAC is a federal advisory committee
that was established by charter on September 30, 1993, to provide independent advice,
consultation, and recommendations to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) on matters related to environmental justice. This report has not been reviewed
for approval by the Agency and hence, the contents of this report do not represent the views
and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor of other agencies in the Executive
Branch of the federal government.
This report is EPA Report number EPA 500-R-96-002. Additional copies of this report may be
requested by contacting EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response Outreach and Special
Projects Staff at 202-260-4039 or via E-mail at benjamin.kent@epamail.epa.gov.
Comments or questions can be directed to EPA's Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) through the
Internet. OEJ's Internet E-mail address is:
environmental.justice.epa@epamail.epa.gov.
Executive Summaries of the reports of the NEJAC meetings are available on the Internet at OEJ's
World Wide Web homepage:
http://es.inel.gov/oeca/oej.html.
Endorsement of this report does not constitute a NEJAC endorsement of any specific
Brownfields initiative or the Brownfields concept in general. Rather, it is an endorsement of the
recommendations to help ensure that environmental justice, community participation, and
urban revitalization concerns are addressed in Brownfields initiatives.
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
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NATIONAL
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
ADVISORY COUNCIL
4l&
Carol Browner, Administrator July 29, 1996
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Administrator Browner:
Attached, please find a copy of the final report, "EnvironmentalJustice, Urban Revitalization, and
Brownfields: The Search for Authentic Signs of Hope." At the May 29-31 meeting of the National Environmental
Justice Advisory Council in Detroit, Michigan, the Council discussed the Waste and Facility Siting
Subcommittee's report, "EnvironmentalJustice, Urban Revitalization, and Brownfields: The Search for Authentic
Signs of Hope." The Council has agreed to endorse the report, as reflected in a formal mail vote, and to transmit it
to you. The purpose of this letter is to request that you review the report and address the action items identified in
the report.
We are transmitting this document to you on behalf of the members of the NEJAC. We do so with
sincere gratitude for the many persons who gave tirelessly of their time, energy, and expertise to make the NEJAC
Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields an outstanding success.
The report follows up on, and analyzes the findings from, the public dialogues on urban revitalization and
Brownfields which were held in June and July 1995. As you read this report, we hope you will appreciate the
reasons for our sense of profound urgency regarding the issues raised in the report.
Sincerely,
Richard Moore, Chair
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
Charles Lee, Chair
NEJAC Waste and Facility Siting Subcommittee
cc: NEJAC Council Members
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DEDICATION
Dr. Jean Sindab, Director of Environmental and Economic Justice/Hunger Concerns for
the National Council of Churches and a member of the National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council, passed away on January 8, 1996 after a long and hard battle with
cancer. Those of us who knew her well are deeply saddened by our loss. In reflecting
upon Jean's life, we realized that this report attempts to speak to some of the issues at
the very core of her life's work. For example, she and I worked on developing an Urban
Strategies Initiative for the National Council of Churches in the wake of events in South
Central Los Angeles. She organized the Black Church Network on Environmental and
Economic Justice.
Jean chose to serve on the Waste and Facility Siting Subcommittee because of her
interest in the job creation aspects of the Brownfields issue. Her passion was the plight of
inner city youth, and she clearly understood the linkages between living in degraded
physical environments, mass alienation, and destructive violence. It can be said that her
life's work was dedicated to the constant search for authentic signs of hope. Many
formative concepts behind this report germinated during our discussions years before the
establishment of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Jean struggled
mightily to attend all the NEJAC "Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and
Brownfields." She especially liked the idea of "Envisioning Healthy and Sustainable
Communities." Despite her illness, she was able to attend our Public Dialogue in Boston,
and we were indeed graced by her presence.
We believe that the vision which this report hopes to articulate is one she embraced and
dedicated her life to help realize. She helped me to formulate the question which
pervades this report: Can the restoration of the physical environment become an
anchoring point for economic, social, cultural, and spiritual renewal? In very real sense,
she contributed to this report in ways she may never know. Therefore, we dedicate this
report to the "living" memory of the life and work of Dr. Jean Sindab.
Charles Lee
NEJAC—A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY es-i
INTRODUCTION 1
BACKGROUND 5
KEY ISSUES IN THE BROWNFIELDS DEBATE 9
I. Understanding the Nature of the Urban Environment 10
II. The Ecological Importance of Urban Areas 10
III. Reframing the Urban/Rural Dichotomy 11
IV. Confronting the Issue of Race and Class 12
V. Urban Revitalization and Community-Driven Models of Redevelopment 12
VI. Community Mapping and Community-Based Environmental Protection 13
VII. Executive Order 12898 and Government Reinvention 14
VIM. Environmental Justice and the Next Generation of Environmental Protection 16
URBAN REVITALIZATION/BROWNFIELDS RECOMMENDATIONS 18
I. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND COMMUNITY VISION 20
1. Informed and Empowered Community Involvement 20
2. Community Vision/Comprehensive Community-Based Planning 23
3. Role and Participation of Youth 26
II. KEY ISSUE AREAS 29
4. Equal Protection 29
5. Public Health, Environmental Standards, and Liability 31
6. Job Creation, Training, and Career Development 37
7. Land Use 40
III. PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS 44
8. Community/Private Sector Partnerships 44
9. Local, State, Tribal, and Territorial Governments 47
10. Federal Interagency Cooperation, Programmatic Integration, and
Government Reinvention 50
CONCLUSION 54
APPENDICES 60
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 62
MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL 64
MEMBERS OF THE WASTE AND FACILITY SITING SUBCOMMITTEE 66
LIST OF EPA BROWNFIELDS PILOT SITES 67
KEY EPA ACTIONS TO DATE 69
NEJAC—A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The vision of environmental justice is the development of a holistic, bottomup, community-based, multi-
issue, cross-cutting, integrative, and unifying paradigm for achieving healthy and sustainable
communities-both urban and rural. In the context of ecological peril, economic dysfunctionality,
infrastructure decay, racial polarization, social turmoil, cultural disorientation, and spiritual malaise which
grips urban America at the end of the 20th century, environmental justice is indeed a much needed
breath of fresh air. Tragically, many positive developments have been rendered invisible behind the
curtain of a sensationalism-oriented mass media. However, there is no denying that great resilience
exists in the economic, cultural, and spiritual life of America's communities. There are many stellar
accomplishments, entrepreneurial successes, and significant victories-both big and small. Hence, an
abiding goal of the Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields was the constant search
for authentic signs of hope.
Background
In 1995, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) Waste and Facility Siting
Subcommittee and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency co-sponsored a series of public hearings
entitled, "Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields: Envisioning Healthy and Sustainable
Communities." The Public Dialogues were held in five cities: Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan; Oakland, California; and Atlanta, Georgia. They were intended to
provide for the first time an opportunity for environmental justice advocates and residents of impacted
communities to systematically provide input regarding issues related to the EPA's Brownfields Economic
Redevelopment Initiative.
More than 500 persons from community groups, government agencies, faith groups, labor,
philanthropies, universities, banks, businesses, and other institutions participated in a "systematic
attempt to stimulate a new and vigorous public discourse about developing strategies, partnerships,
models, and projects for ensuring healthy and sustainable communities in America's urban centers and
demonstrating their importance to the nation's environmental and economic future." Representatives
from 15 federal agencies as well as state and local, and tribal governments participated.
Concerns were raised by members of the public about the Brownfields Initiative, i.e., whether or not the
Brownfields issue was a "smoke screen" for gutting cleanup standards, environmental regulations, and
liability safeguards. Heretofore, public policy discourse around the Brownfields issue has revolved
around removing barriers to real estate and investment transactions at sites where there exists toxic
contamination concerns-real or perceived.
There is hope that the Brownfields Initiative will provide an opportunity to (1) stem the ecologically
untenable, environmentally damaging, socially costly, and racially divisive phenomenon of urban sprawl
and Greenfields development; (2) provide focus to a problem which by its very nature is inextricably
linked to environmental justice, for example, the physical deterioration of the nation's urban areas; (3)
allow communities to offer their vision of what redevelopment should look like; (4) apply environmental
justice principles to the development of a new generation of environmental policy capable of meeting
complex challenges such as Brownfields and the existence of a severe crisis in urban America; and (5)
bring greater awareness and opportunities for building partnerships between EPA and communities and
other stakeholders. As a result, EPA committed itself to supporting a sustained dialogue on Brownfields
and environmental justice issues.
EPA already has begun to address concerns raised during the Public Dialogues. For example, EPA
revised the criteria for applying for the Brownfields pilots based on comments provided by the NEJAC.
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Report on the NEJAC Public Dialogues
on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields
The comments emphasize community involvement and recommend that the extent of community
involvement be verified. In February 1996, EPA hosted the Brownfields Pilots National Workshop to
increase the coordination on issues related to Brownfields and environmental justice. EPA has begun a
focused dialogue on developing mechanisms to ensure linkages between Federal Facilities restoration
with urban revitalization/Brownfields. These efforts lay an important foundation for EPA and other
agencies to address the recommendations in this report.
Environmental Justice and Brownfields
Abandoned commercial and industrial properties called "Brownfields," which dot the urban landscape,
are overwhelmingly concentrated in people of color, low-income, indigenous peoples, and otherwise
marginalized communities. By their very nature, Brownfields are inseparable from issues of social
inequity, racial discrimination and urban decay-specifically manifested in adverse land use decisions,
housing discrimination, residential segregation, community disinvestment, infrastructure decay, lack of
educational and employment opportunity, and other issues.
The existence of degraded and hazardous physical environments in people of color, low-income,
indigenous peoples, and otherwise disenfranchised communities is apparent and indisputable. The
physical elements of such environments, in part or in whole, have contributed to human disease and
illness, negative psycho-social impact, economic disincentive, infrastructure decay, and overall
community disintegration. Brownfields are merely one aspect of this phenomenon.
Environmental justice and Brownfields are inextricably linked; the inescapable context for discussion of
the Brownfields issue is environmental justice and urban revitalization. At the core of an environmental
justice perspective is recognition of the interconnectedness of the physical environment to the overall
economic, social, human, and cultural/spiritual health of a community. The vision of environmental
justice is the development of a paradigm to achieve socially equitable, environmentally healthy,
economically secure, psychologically vital, spiritually whole, and ecologically sustainable communities.
To this end, Brownfields redevelopment must be linked to helping address this broader set of
community needs and goals. It should be noted that revitalization, as we define it, does not lead to
displacement of populations through gentrification that often results from redevelopment policies.
Key issues in the Brownfields debate are:
• Understanding the Nature of Urban Environments
• The Ecological Importance of Urban Areas
• Reframing the Urban/Rural Dichotomy
• Confronting the Issue of Race and Class
• Urban Revitalization and Community-Driven Models of Redevelopment
• Community Mapping and Community-Based Environmental Protection
• Executive Order 12898 and Government Reinvention
• Environmental Justice and the Next Generation of Environmental Protection.
The Brownfields issue compels an examination of development patterns on a regional basis, offering a
vision of making links between different communities across the region with common perspectives on
social issues as well as environmental issues, and developing strategies to address the polarization
between suburban and inner city areas. In order to achieve equal protection under the law, we must
develop integrative analytical models for examining how benefits and burdens have been distributed in
American society. For example, past zoning and land use decisions are compounded by transportation
es-ii A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Report on the NEJAC Public Dialogues
on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields
policies which spur urban sprawl, disincentives for investment, and exacerbation of preexisting racial
and social disparities.
Such an approach has important ramifications for the development of strategies, partnerships, models,
and pilot projects. It requires a firm commitment towards the goals of environmental justice and must
involve the community as an equal partner. In addition, it must integrate activities of all federal agencies
as well as their state, local, and tribal counterparts. Through these Public Dialogues, communities have
articulated a highly compelling vision of the future that speaks to the entire federal government, as well
as state, local, tribal governments. These recommendations were developed within the framework of a
number of overarching questions which emerged from testimony at the Public Dialogues on Urban
Revitalization and Brownfields.
Recommendations
Although this report provides an extensive set of recommendations, it attempts as its "heart and soul" to
illustrate the organic interrelationships between people, community, social institutions, government,
and public policy. The "glue" which sustains these relationships is a system of values which treats the
hopes and aspirations of people and families as important, exhibits compassion and care for the less
fortunate, and supports the social fabric which enables communities to be healthy, wholesome, and
sustainable.
When environmental justice posited the notion that "people must speak for themselves" about an
environment defined as the place where "we live, where we work, and where we play," it established a
framework for functionally bridging the key components of emerging environmental policy, i.e.,
ecosystem management and community-based environmental protection, equal protection, pollution
prevention, cumulative risk and sound science, programmatic integration and government reinvention,
and accountability to the public. This fact needs to be elevated as a major tenet of emerging
environmental policy.
Moreover, the Brownfields issue compels an examination of integration between place-based
approaches to environmental protection with sector-based approaches and their implications for
industrial policy. More likely than not, any industrial sector which has entered its second generation and
beyond will have large numbers of large numbers of Brownfield sites. Environmental and economic
policy must take into account the benefits and costs of the entire "life-cycle" of an industrial sector or
facility. Failure to do so results in passing on costs to future generations. For this reason, pollution
prevention must be integrated as an overarching principle into all Brownfields projects.
Environmental justice is predicated upon the fact that the health of the members of a community, both
individually and collectively, is a product of physical, social, cultural, and spiritual factors. It provides a
key to understanding an integrative environmental policy which treats our common ecosystem as the
basis for all life (human and non-human) and activity (economic and otherwise).
Recommendation highlights include:
/. Public Participation and Community Vision
1. Informed and Empowered Community Involvement:
Early, ongoing, and meaningful public participation is the hallmark of sound public policy and decision
making. The community most directly impacted by a problem or a project is inherently qualified to
participate in the decision-making process. Mechanisms must be established to ensure their full
participation, including training and support for community groups, technical assistance grants,
community advisory groups, and others.
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Report on the NEJAC Public Dialogues
on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields
n Support sustained and structured public dialogue on Brownfields and environmental
justice on all levels.
n Institute policies and performance measures which encourage program personnel and
policy makers to spend substantive time in neighborhoods as a regular part of their
work so that there is understanding of real problems, concerns, and aspirations of
community residents.
n Undertake special outreach efforts to overlooked groups.
2. Community Vision/Comprehensive Community Based Planning:
There exists within local communities highly coherent, vibrant, and compelling visions for achieving
healthy and sustainable communities. Brownfields and all community revitalization efforts must be
based upon such visions. The public dialogues articulated the importance of developing holistic, multi-
faceted, interactive, and integrative community-based planning models.
D Acknowledge community-based planning as a critical methodology for environmental
protection and promote its use both inside and outside the Agency.
n Convene a national roundtable on strategies for application and development of
geographic information systems and community mapping tools.
n Develop guidance for incorporation of community-based planning and community
visioning into Community-Based Environmental Protection initiatives.
3. Role and Participation of Youth:
Young people provide great energy, creativity, and a sense of fresh vision. Urban revitalization/
Brownfields issues are matters of great concern to young people. Issues of healthy and sustainable
communities are questions of a viable future. Government and social institutions have a moral
obligation to ensure a world fit for all children-present and future.
D Form the requisite partnerships both inside and outside of government to better
understand and address urban revitalization/Brownfields issues of concern to youth.
n Through the Brownfields initiative, integrate environmental activities and career
development with targeted environmental justice and urban revitalization strategies.
n Designate "youth" as a formal stakeholder category for federal advisory committees
and other multi-stakeholder public participation processes.
II. Key Issue Areas
4. Equal Protection:
The urban revitalization/Brownfields issue focuses attention on yet another important set of equal
protection issues, i.e., urban sprawl. Many federal programs have widened racial and socio-economic
divisions in society by promoting disinvestment and placing substantial indirect burdens on communities
and local economies.
In certain urban areas, urban sprawl is infringing upon nearby Tribal lands and, as such, is creating
direct burdens on environmental, social, economic, and cultural values. In other urban areas, Tribal
governments have won land claim settlements that provide for Tribal acquisition of urban lands that
have included contaminated and potentially contaminated commercial and industrial areas. It is
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Report on the NEJAC Public Dialogues
on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields
imperative that local jurisdictions that are located next to Tribal land pay attention to the concerns of the
Tribal governments, as well as its Tribal community members. Urban revitalization and Brownfields
programs must recognize ceded lands, fee lands, and all lands possessing historical, cultural, and
spiritual values.
D Develop analytical models of the distributive impacts of federal programs which
promote urban sprawl and incorporate such analyses into National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) Environmental Justice Guidance.
n Examine use of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with respect to federal support in
areas of community reinvestment, fair housing, equal business opportunity, financing,
and health protection.
n Identify all Tribal lands that are impacted by urban sprawl and evaluate barriers against
equal protection.
5. Public Health, Environmental Standards, and Liability:
Public health and environmental protection are matters of primary concern to communities. In areas
which suffer a long history of noxious land uses, illegal dumping, and lack of health and safety
enforcement, priority must be given to ensuring that areas are safe for redevelopment as the first step in
urban revitalization and brownfield redevelopment efforts. At this point, the public health has yet to be a
real part of the urban revitalization/Brownfields discourse.
D Establish mechanisms which ensure a primary role for impacted communities in the
decision-making process regarding public health and environmental protection issues.
n Strengthen right-to-know, enforcement and compliance activity in impacted
communities.
n Support several Brownfields projects where the key component is assessment of health
risks on a community-wide basis.
n Conduct a series of dialogues on integration of public health and planning for purposes
of achieving true urban revitalization with healthy and sustainable Brownfields
redevelopment.
6. Job Creation, Training, and Career Development:
Brownfields redevelopment must be coordinated with broader strategies of job creation, training; and
career development which produce demonstrable benefits for the host community. Coordination and
cooperation among government (federal, state, tribal, and local), business/industry, community-based
organizations, labor unions, faith groups, and the community at large is mandatory in order to leverage
resources and promote maximum benefit. Everyone benefits if they are unified and taking actions
towards a common goal, i.e., a vibrant, safe, healthy, and sustainable community.
D Make use of the momentum generated by the Brownfields issue and provide leadership
in building partnerships and coalitions which result in locally based job creation,
entrepreneurial development, and sustainable careers.
n Support efforts to ensure worker health and safety.
7. Land Use:
Historical land use decisions based upon race have played a powerful role in shaping communities with
large numbers of Brownfields. Inadequate zoning protection is a matter of paramount importance to
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Report on the NEJAC Public Dialogues
on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields
impacted communities and environmental justice. It is critical that this social context be fully understood
and addressed before embarking upon a national strategy of urban redevelopment. In so doing,
common interests must be found across urban and suburban lines to develop a mutually compatible
and supportive policy and program agendas.
D Examine land use patterns of an entire metropolitan area or region surrounding
Brownfields sites.
n Encourage and support the involvement of non-traditional stakeholders (such as
community-based organizations) in government processes, such as zoning issues.
n Identify the real costs of Greenfields development.
III. Public and Private Sector Partnerships
8. Community/Private Sector Partnerships:
At the root of many problems confronting urban/Brownfields communities are massive economic shifts
that have marked the past two decades. New approaches towards building partnerships between
decaying inner city communities and newer suburban are a vital necessity. Decay in both physical and
social infrastructure pose great obstacles to reinvestment and revitalization. Urban
revitalization/Brownfields programs must form partnerships with groups beyond the traditional
Brownfields stakeholder groups to include community based organizations, youth groups, faith groups,
labor groups, civil rights groups, public health groups, and philanthropy. Government agencies and
societal institutions must not view communities as merely an assortment of needs but as a collection of
assets which can be built upon.
D Institute a Brownfields grant program which provides funds directly to community
groups in partnership with locally based non-governmental institutions.
n Convene a National Urban Revitalization/Brownfields Summit Meeting of all
stakeholders working on or affected by Brownfields projects as an opportunity to bring
together all parties to discuss critical issues, craft unified strategies, and determine
actions for follow-up.
9. Local, State, Tribal, and Territorial Government:
Local, state, tribal, and territorial governments increasingly recognize the importance of addressing
contaminated properties and Brownfields issues. Mature communities, both urban and rural, are
confronting several generations of Brownfields. At the same time, municipalities lack the capacity and
resources to develop effective urban revitalization/Brownfields programs. Tribal and territorial
governments have often overlooked special issues such as sovereignty and infrastructure. States will
have key roles because they will provide regulatory oversight for voluntary cleanup. Improved
communications to better understand differing roles and needs is critical, as is building the capacity of
local communities to work with each level of government.
D Improve communications and coordination between and among multiple levels of
government to enable an integrated approach to Brownfields as part of overall
community revitalization efforts.
n Provide training on environmental justice and Brownfields for local, state, tribal and
territorial governments.
n Develop a Brownfields grant program specifically designed to meet the special needs of
Native American Tribes and U.S. Territories.
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Report on the NEJAC Public Dialogues
on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields
10. Federal Interagency Cooperation, Programmatic Integration, and Government Reinvention:
The original and most enduring proponents of government reinvention are community residents
engaged in overcoming systemic impediments to locally based solutions. The heart and soul of an
authentic government reinvention process must be based upon vibrant and coherent community-based
visions of healthy and sustainable communities. There already exists many federal policy and program
initiatives which lend themselves to viable integrative strategies. In seeking to address a set of placed-
based, multi-faceted, and cross-cutting set of issues, urban revitalization/Brownfields efforts provide
unique opportunities for programmatic integration and government reinvention.
D Establish an interagency task force on Urban Revitalization/Brownfields, either through
the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice or some other appropriate
mechanism, to ensure programmatic coordination and integration.
n Provide opportunities for communities to systematically engage EPA and other federal
around ways in which federal programs around ways by which they can coordinate
programs, pool resources and tap expertise.
Conclusion
The urban revitalization/Brownfields debate reveals issues of civilizational dimensions. As we look to
the 21st century, what endeavor could possibly be more eminently worthy and necessary; more
obviously logical and deserving of our national attention, expertise, and resources; or more meaningful
and spiritually nourishing than that of revitalizing America's urban areas and ensuring healthy and
sustainable communities, both urban and rural? A challenge so great as this cannot be met with
compelling visions of what constitutes healthy and sustainable communities. We have found that such
visions already exist in highly coherent and vibrant ways within many communities across the nation.
The Nation is locked within the throes of a set of transitions which are demographic, economic,
environmental, technological, social, cultural, linguistic, generational, and indeed spiritual in nature.
Urban revitalization and Brownfields offer an opportunity to shape new policy, programs, partnerships,
and pilot projects which rise to the challenge of the cross-cutting issues raised in this report. The
Subcommittee continues to pose these questions:
• Can this process begin to set a direction capable of crystallizing a unifying and cross-cutting
vision within the federal government to serve as an anchor for the mobilization of society's
resources-both public and private?
• Can the restoration of the physical environment in America's cities become the anchoring point
for economic, social, cultural, and spiritual renewal and thus provide the basis for a embarking
upon a new and ennobling national mission?
These questions form the guiding elements for envisioning the next phase of urban
revitalization/Brownfields strategies. The NEJAC Subcommittee felt the need to identify priorities for the
next two to four years from the above recommendations. The Subcommittee recognized that the
Brownfields Initiative has achieve broad-based support because it linked two critical areas, i.e.,
environmental cleanup with job creation. Over the past year, the Subcommittee has worked to stimulate
dialogue on ensuring the following issue linkages:
• Environmental cleanup with job creation
• Federal facilities cleanup and restoration with urban revitalization/Brownfields
• Urban revitalization/Brownfields with transportation, regional land use, and the Department of
Transportation's "Livable Communities" Initiative
• Urban revitalization/Brownfields, public health, and community-based planning
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We believe that a maturing discussion on the above issues will take place over the next year and
provide the catalyst for a unified federal approach towards coalescing a common urban revitalization
strategy across all federal agencies. Several other priorities must take place over the next two to four
years:
• Establish an interagency urban revitalization/Brownfields task force, either through the Federal
Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice or other appropriate mechanisms;
• Convene a National Urban Revitalization/Brownfields Summit (this should be portrayed as a
"national revival" for the cities);
• Support the establishment of a National Urban Revitalization/Brownfields Training Institute to
develop and train in achieving healthy and sustainable communities;
• Convene a dialogue between community groups and developers/investors to achieve a
common framework for decision making and working partnerships;
• Ensure support for worker training programs and establish mechanisms for better coordination;
• Establish special grant programs in areas of technical assistance to communities, small grants
for community-based advocacy and training, and a tribal and territorial Brownfields grant
program
• Establish new partnerships above and beyond traditional urban revitalization/Brownfields
stakeholders to include community-based organizations, youth groups, faith groups, labor
groups, civil rights groups, public health groups, and philanthropic organizations.
If the Brownfields issue is nothing else, it was an opportunity for community groups to engage
government, developers, and other stakeholders around their vision of what healthy and sustainable
communities are. The stakes cannot be greater. EPA must begin to think about a new framework
which will address the issues raised through the Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and
Brownfields. The hallmark of that process must be informed and empowered community involvement.
Likewise, all agencies in the federal government should consider these cross-cutting issues and begin
to shape coordinated and integrative strategies.
The NEJAC Subcommittee on Waste and Facility Siting believes that a process has been started by
which environmental justice advocates and impacted communities have changed the operative
definition of the term "Brownfields." This already has translated into some significant changes in the
way in which EPA implements the Brownfields Initiative. We hope to engage a process which ultimately
will coalesce a new type of environmental and social policy capable of meeting the challenges of
revitalizing urban America and restoring ecological balance to the nation. This was our intent. Anything
less would have amounted to a failure of leadership, a breaking of faith with communities, and
acquiescence to business as usual.
A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, URBAN REVITALIZATION,
AND BROWNFIELDS:
THE SEARCH FOR AUTHENTIC SIGNS OF HOPE
The vision of environmental justice is the development of a holistic, bottom-up,
community-based, multi-issue, cross-cutting, and integrative, and unifying paradigm for
achieving healthy and sustainable communities-both urban and rural. In the context of
ecological peril, economic dysfunction, infrastructure decay, racial polarization, social
turmoil, cultural disorientation, and spiritual malaise which grips urban America at the end
of the 20th century, environmental justice is indeed a much needed breath of fresh air.
Tragically, many positive developments have been rendered invisible behind the curtain
of a sensationalism-oriented mass media. However, there is no denying that great
resilience exists in the economic, cultural, and spiritual life of America's communities.
There are many stellar accomplishments, entrepreneurial successes, and significant
victories-both big and small. Hence, an abiding goal of the Public Dialogues on Urban
Revitalization and Brownfields was the constant search for authentic signs of hope.
INTRODUCTION
In 1995, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) Waste and Facility Siting
Subcommittee and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) co-sponsored a series of public
hearings entitled "Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields: Envisioning Healthy and
Sustainable Communities." NEJAC is the formal advisory committee convened by EPA to provide
advice on issues of environmental justice. It consists of grassroots leaders from impacted communities,
environmental justice scholars and advocates, and representatives from a broad range of stakeholder
groups.
The NEJAC Waste and Facility Siting
Subcommittee (hereafter referred to as the
Subcommittee) is sponsored by EPA's Office of
Solid Waste and Emergency Response
(OSWER). OSWER was the first program office
within the federal government to develop a
comprehensive environmental justice strategy.
Under the leadership of Assistant Administrator
Elliot P. Laws, OSWER began the process of
developing its environmental justice strategy prior
to the signing by President Clinton of Executive
Order 12898.1
Five Public Dialogues were held in Boston,
Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Detroit, Michigan; Oakland, California; and Atlanta,
Georgia. They were intended to provide, for the
first time, an opportunity for environmental justice
advocates and residents of impacted communities
to systematically contribute input regarding
issues related to EPA's Brownfields Economic
Redevelopment Initiative. Over 500 persons from
community groups, government agencies, faith
National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council (NEJAC)
NEJAC is a federal advisory committee that was
established on September 30, 1993 to provide
independent advice, consultation, and
recommendations to the EPA Administrator. Its
members represent diverse stakeholder groups,
including academia, industry, community groups,
various non-governmental organizations, state and
local governments, tribal organizations, and
environmental organizations.
In 1994 and 1995, NEJAC consisted of four
subcommittees: Health and Research, Enforcement,
Public Participation and Accountability, and Waste
and Facility Siting. In December 1995, two new
subcommittees-International and Indigenous
Peoples) were established. NEJAC is chaired by
Mr. Richard Moore, Southwest Network for
Environmental and Economic Justice.
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Report on the NEJAC Public Dialogues
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groups, labor organizations, philanthropies, universities, A/f , e,,
If , ' . . .. . ..... .. . ... Members or the
banks, businesses, and other institutions participated in WAQTF AMFI FAPTT TTV QTTTMP
a "systematic attempt to stimulate a new and vigorous WA:>l o™~ HMMITTT?!?
public discourse about developing strategies, SUBCUMMll ILL
partnerships, models, and projects for ensuring healthy
and sustainable communities in America's urban centers Mr. Charles Lee, Chair
and their importance to the nation's environmental and Ms. Jan Young, DFO
economic future." Representatives from 15 federal
agencies, as well as state and local governments, Ms. Dollie Burwell
participated in the meetings. Ms- Sue Briggum
Ms. Teresa Cordova
The Public Dialogues sought to provide an opportunity Mr. Donald Elisburg
for environmental justice advocates and community- Mr. Michael Guererro
based groups in impacted areas (1) to become a visible Mr. Tom Goldtooth
and meaningful part of an already existing national Mr. David Hahn-Baker
discourse on issues related to Brownfields hazardous Ms. Lillian Kawasaki
site cleanup and economic redevelopment, (2) to Mr. Tom Kennedy
reshape in substantive ways the development of EPA's Mr. Scott Morrison
Brownfields Initiative, and (3) add a new dimension to Mr. Jon Sesso
public policy discourse on Brownfields and urban Mr. Lenny Siegel
redevelopment. At the point that the Brownfields issue Ms. Connie Tucker
came to NEJAC's attention, most issues to be Ms. Nathalie Walker
addressed, such as liability issues, seemed to be
"developer-driven." Most, if not all, public policy
discussion about Brownfields was shaped by a desire to effect changes in legislation, regulatory
standards, and liability provisions to meet the concerns of prospective investors and developers. Most
people in potentially impacted communities had never heard the term "Brownfields."2 NEJAC found that
given the opportunity to define the issues surrounding Brownfields, these communities would do so in
very different ways.
The Public Dialogues sought to be community-driven in terms of planning, preparation, structure, and
execution. They proceeded from the premise that a strong sense of collective concerns and aspirations
already existed within many communities.
These comprise highly coherent and
Interagency Participation compelling visions of healthy and
sustainable communities. Some
Among the Federal agencies present at the Public Dialogues communities have engaged in highly
were: sophisticated community-based planning
and visioning processes.
* U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
•> U.S. Department of Transportation The Public Dialogues were structured into
•> U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development two tiers. First, communities articulated
•> U.S. Department of Defense their concerns about the Brownfields
* U.S. Department of Energy initiative and their visions for achieving
•> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services healthy and sustainable communities.
- U.S. Department of Justice Second, representatives of government
*• US Department of Labor agencies, as well as key social institutions
* U.S. Department of Interior such as labor< faith 9rouPs< universities,
* U.S. Department of Agriculture philanthropies, and business
> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention organizations, were asked to address the
> National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences role they,can P'8y '" help!"9 *° mak6 th6
T-, >r. , . A, . . . .. community s vision a reality. By
* Economic Development Administration . .... r^i-i-r^-i * j •
TT c „ . c . structuring the Public Dialogues to model
> IS H nrpstrv SPFVIPP
u.5. forestry service new forms of public participation, the
* National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
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Subcommittee was intent on putting the discourse about Brownfields issues into a context that the
community both defines and articulates.
The Public Dialogues abide by the basic environmental justice tenet that "people must speak for
themselves."3 Therefore, in an effort to uphold the integrity of the testimony presented, the
Subcommittee believes that to the degree possible, any resulting report would retain the voice of the
speakers. To reduce the community presentations to the language of "techno-speak" effectively would
have sanitized their message, rendered them devoid of conviction, and destroyed their interest. This
would do disservice to community members who went to great efforts to participate. Perhaps more than
any other single factor, the question of whose language is used determines whether or not a process is
truly community-driven. To capture the community message therefore, community presentations are
quoted extensively throughout this report. Although the report is long, the Subcommittee strongly urges
readers to respect the community members by taking the time to seriously read their statements. This
is necessary to work towards bridging the huge disconnect now existing between the public, government
bureaucracy, and the decision-making process. In many ways, this report is also a collection of stories
and perspectives. As such, it builds upon a rich oral tradition in communities and among peoples of
color.
APPLICATION OF THE
NEJAC PUBLIC PARTICIPATION MODEL
The planning and implementation of the Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields
attempted to "model" new forms of public participation by incorporating key elements of the Public
Participation Model developed in October 1994 by the NEJAC Public Participation and Accountability
Subcommittee. These elements included:
*• Up-front community involvement in planning, preparation, and definition of issues
*• Two-way, focused interactive dialogue on a given set of issues
*• Fact-finding meetings held in communities other than Washington, D.C.
*• Recognition of local community history which includes language, culture, and experience
*• Exploration of ways to make use of non-governmental vehicles for public participation, such as
NEJAC
*• Finding new ways of building partnerships between communities, government, and other
stakeholders
*• A body of information and contacts left within communities
*• Development of models which can be replicated
*• Most importantly, an explicitly stated intention of the host agency to demonstrate that it listened to
the community
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BACKGROUND
EPA defines Brownfields as "abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where
expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination." In
January 1995, Administrator Carol Browner announced that EPA will fund 50 pilot projects across the
country as part of its Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative.
The EPA Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is a program which seeks to find ways to
remove barriers to the return to beneficial reuse of properties whose redevelopment is complicated by
environmental contamination-whether real or perceived. EPA's expressed hope is that these sites can
become a source of jobs and help in restoring depleted tax bases. The U.S. General Accounting Office
has estimated that such sites could number as many 450,000 across the country, including abandoned
and/or underutilized warehouses, gas stations, and factories. For example, Eugenic Maria de Hostos
Community College houses 5,500 students and provides a major institutional anchor for the South
Bronx, New York. It was founded during the 1960's in an abandoned tire factory. Today, the facility
would be classified as a successfully redeveloped Brownfields site. In Oakland, California, Preservation
Park-a renovated development which is home to several non-profit organizations-stands as a symbol
of hope and renewal in the midst of urban deterioration. It too would be classified as a successfully
redeveloped Brownfields site.
The Subcommittee offered substantial input to the finalization of the OSWER EnvironmentalJustice
Action Agenda, published in June 1995. Recognizing OSWER's environmental justice strategy as a
"living document," the Subcommittee adopted a Ten-Point Implementation Framework for OSWER's
action agenda. Many of these implementation points are directly relevant to the Subcommittee's
approach to its work around EPA's Brownfields action agenda. In its report to the NEJAC at the meeting
held October 27, 1994 in Dulles, Virginia, the Subcommittee stated that:
"[it] recognizes the cross-cutting nature of environmental justice and therefore sees the
necessary limitations of program-specific, or even agency-specific, environmental justice
strategies. However, environmental justice will be rendered meaningless if it is not
actively integrated into all EPA programs and other agencies within the federal
government. The Subcommittee set forth the challenge of attempting to offer a vision for
an environmental protection policy in the 21st century-especially as it relates to major
societal issues of our times. This compels a thoughtful critique of traditional policy
constructs and program demarcations. Hence, the Subcommittee sees great value in
effective usage of the Presidential Executive Order 12898 on environmental justice.
Recognizing OSWER's unique position as the first program office to develop such a
strategy, the Subcommittee urges OSWER to serve as a catalyst for such integration."
The following points, outlined in the Framework, are directly relevant to the Brownfields Initiative:
• Comprehensive and interactive approaches to communications, outreach and public
participation is a hub of environmental justice strategy implementation.
• Ensuring culturally diverse and community-driven training of agency personnel is critical to the
agency's ability to serve all groups in an increasingly multiracial and multicultural society.
• Efforts must continue to build institutional infrastructure 4 for achieving environmental justice
within OSWER and other related EPA programs; other federal agency programs; partnerships
with state, local and tribal governments, community groups, and other stakeholders.
An integrative Environmental Justice Model Demonstration Program approach should be used
as the template for project implementation.
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Concerns were raised by members of the
public about the Brownfields Initiative, i.e.,
whether or not the Brownfields issue was a
"smoke screen" for gutting cleanup
standards, environmental regulations, and
liability safeguards. Over the past three
years, substantial national momentum had
been building related to the Brownfields
concept. For example, in 1995 the U.S.
Conference of Mayors designated
Brownfields as its No. 1 environmental
priority. To a large extent, public policy
related to the Brownfields issue revolved
around removing barriers to real estate and
investment transactions at sites where there
exist toxic contamination concerns-real or
perceived.
From the point of view of the Subcommittee
and environmental justice advocates, EPA
had received virtually no meaningful input
from environmental justice advocates or
residents from impacted communities about
the Brownfields initiative. By 1994, EPA had
initiated an environmental justice outreach
and minority worker training program at the
Cuyahoga County Community College in
Cleveland, Ohio, which is linked to the
Brownfields Pilot in Cuyahoga County.
However, in light of the breadth of the Brownfields issue, the Subcommittee clearly felt the effort did not
accomplish environment justice; as the subcommittee noted, "EPA's Brownfields locomotive left the
station without a major group of passengers." The Subcommittee's objectives in sponsoring the Public
Dialogues were to achieve a meaningful role by environmental justice advocates and residents from
potentially-impacted communities, and to initiate dialogue among stakeholder groups on addressing
community goals.
At the same time, there was hope that the Brownfields Initiative could provide an opportunity to:
• stem the ecologically untenable, environmentally damaging, socially costly, and racially divisive
phenomenon of urban sprawl, displacement of residents through gentrification, and Greenfields
development
• provide focus to a problem which by its very nature is inextricably linked to environmental
justice, for example, the physical deterioration of the nation's urban areas
• allow communities to offer their vision of what redevelopment should look like
• apply environmental justice principles to the development of a new generation of environmental
policy capable of meeting complex challenges such as Brownfields and the existence of a
severe crisis in urban America
• bring greater awareness and opportunities for building partnerships between EPA, communities
and other stakeholders.
An Integrative Environmental Justice Model
Demonstration Approach
The Environmental Justice/Community Issues Working
Group of the National Advisory Council on Environmental
Policy and Technology (NACEPT) Superfund Evaluation
Committee (1993) originally submitted to EPA a list of key
elements. The list included integration of:
* formulation of policy and regulatory frameworks
* development of analytical tools, indicators, and
protocols for environmental justice
* community-wide, multi-media, targeted geographic
initiatives
* public health concerns of impacted communities
and multiple, cumulative and synergistic risk
* built-in mechanisms for community participation
and empowerment
* federal interagency cooperation
* economic redevelopment and sustainable
community
* enhancement of community user-friendly pollution
prevention and technology diffusion programs
* strategies for stakeholder involvement including
labor, business, non-profit, philanthropic, and other
institutional partners
* ongoing evaluation, coordination and integration of
existing pilots and programs
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NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL
Resolution on Environmental Justice and Urban Revitalization
Crystal City, Virginia
July 25-26, 1995
WHEREAS the nation confronts no more worthy, necessary, and compelling challenge than that of
addressing the existence of a severe crisis in America's urban centers and the need for a new national
commitment to urban revitalization;
WHEREAS the vision of environmental justice is the development of a holistic, bottoms-up,
community-based, multi-faceted, cross-cutting, and integrative paradigm for achieving healthy and
sustainable communities, both urban and rural;
WHEREAS the urban eco-system at the end of the twentieth century is comprised of four
environments, i.e., the natural, built, social, and cultural/spiritual environments;
WHEREAS environmental justice is uniquely equipped to provide the visions, the frameworks, and
the tools capable of meeting this great national challenge;
WHEREAS the urban crisis is fundamentally an ecological one, rooted in among other things the
racial makeup of the structure of American cities; and
WHEREAS revitalizing urban America requires a unified and integrated strategy on the part of all
federal agencies, in the spirit of a community-driven government reinvention process.
THEREFORE SO BE IT RESOLVED that the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
requests the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to undertake the following
action items:
* Provide leadership in stimulating a new and vigorous national public discourse over the
compelling need to develop strategies for ensuring healthy and sustainable communities in
America's urban centers and their importance to the nation's environmental and economic
future.
* Perform a review of all EPA programs, both national and regional, to ensure the development
of innovative, effective, equitable, and lasting strategies, partnerships, models, and pilot
projects for achieving healthy and sustainable urban communities.
* Request that the development of one unified, integrated, and cross-cutting national strategy to
address issues of urban revitalization and the development of healthy and sustainable urban
communities be made a priority agenda item for the implementation of Executive Order 12898
and the work of the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice.
As a result of the Public Dialogues, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council adopted at its
July 25-26, 1995 meeting in Crystal City, Virginia, a resolution entitled "Environmental Justice and Urban
Revitalization."
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KEY ISSUES IN THE BROWNFIELDS DEBATE
The concept of "Brownfields"
emerged as a natural outgrowth of
groups and individuals seeking to
reverse the tide of urban decay.
One impediment which readily
presented itself to such groups,
including those seeking to build
low-income housing for the
homeless, was the environmental
liability issues associated with
abandoned commercial and
industrial properties. Such
properties are abundantly located in
virtually every "other side of the
tracks" community in America's
urban areas. The
Northeast/Midwest Institute5 coined
the term "Brownfields" to describe
this phenomenon. While not all
Brownfields are located in urban
areas, the environmental policy and
sociological context of the
Brownfields problem is decidedly
urban in character.
"[South Central Los Angeles] is a community characterized by tons
and tons of vacant lots, some of them left as a result of the 1992
rebellion. Others have existed for 20 and 30 years. My community
also is characterized by auto shops, paint shops, plating companies,
radiator companies, and others-some of which are unpermitted
uses within our residential community. Our community suffers one
of the highest incidence of asthma throughout California. It sits
next to the largest industrial base in this country called the Alameda
Corridor. The neighborhood has pretty much been neglected by the
city of Los Angeles in terms of street repairs, storm drainage
cleaning, and so forth.
"We see the Brownfields Initiative as a real opportunity to change
some of what exists in our community. A lot of sites have been left
behind by owners who could not free up or sell land because of
contamination—whether they were once gas stations or whatever.
So we see ourselves losing a lot of potential for good, clean, safe,
and sound development.
"We also have concerns about some Brownfields initiatives. Even
when one is something we tend to like, we feel the prospective
purchaser agreements must have more teeth and accountability [to
the community]. We feel strongly that community participation
must be involved. We would never like to see something cleaned up
and then a liquor store put in my community. We must have a say
on the front-end as to what kind of development follows cleanup.
"In terms of jobs and job training, people in my community have
strong concerns about who benefits from job [opportunities]. There
is justifiably much discussion about military conversion, aerospace
conversion, and conversion jobs. But how does the community
where people have a lack of skills get involved in the discussion?
We want to be able to bring the nonworking and underemployed
into the discussion. These are some of the concerns we would like
to see addressed."
Robin Canon
Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles
Oakland, CA, Public Dialogue
In a narrow sense, EPA's
Brownfields Initiative refers to a
specific agency effort focusing on
finding ways to remove items which
are viewed as obstacles to
investment by prospective lenders
and developers. Many concerns
over the specific elements of that
program, including the need for
meaningful community involvement,
environmental health
considerations, job creation and
training, federal interagency
cooperation, public/private
partnerships, and others began to
surface. In order to fully address
these important issues, they must
be considered within a larger
context.
In a larger sense, the Brownfields issue propelled to national prominence the issues related to
"Brownfields versus Greenfields" development. If society cannot find ways of revitalizing urban
areas, development necessarily encroaches more and more on the nonrenewable resource of pristine
natural space. The emergence of the Brownfields issue signals recognition of the ecologically
untenable nature of "Greenfields" development or urban sprawl. A coalition which includes Bank of
America, Greenbelt Alliance, Low-Income Housing Fund, and the Resources Agency of California,
recently published Beyond Sprawl: New Patterns of Growth to Fit the New California. It concluded that
the "acceleration of sprawl has surfaced enormous social, environmental, and economic costs, which
until now have been hidden, ignored, or quietly borne by society. The burden of these costs is
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becoming very clear. Businesses suffer from higher costs, a loss in worker productivity, and
underutilized investments in older communities."6
The Brownfields issue is yet another aspect of an intensifying set of systemic problems related to
residential segregation, disinvestment of inner-city areas, urban sprawl, degradation of the urban
environment, and the polarization between urban and non-urban communities along lines of age, life
style, race, socioeconomic status, and other spatially-related social divisions. These are endemic to a
severe crisis-environmentally, economically, socially, culturally, and otherwise-in urban America.
Environmental justice encompasses very clearly the inextricable linkage between these issues. The
Subcommittee emphatically asserts that all stakeholder groups must recognize that the inescapable
context for discussion of the Brownfields issue is environmental justice and urban revitalization.
The following summarizes some of these pressing issues related to urban revitalization, Brownfields,
and the achievement of truly healthy and sustainable communities-both urban and rural. The
Subcommittee proceeds from the recognition that one of the nation's most pressing environmental
problems is the state of its cities. This crisis is fundamentally an ecological one-in both the natural and
the human sense.7 While one may choose to deny their existence, it is increasingly evident that they
cannot be ignored.
/. Understanding the Nature of the Urban Environment
Based on environmental justice principles, the Subcommittee defines environment as "the place
where we live, where we work, and where we play."8 This necessitates recognition of an urban
ecosystem as consisting of four environments: natural, built, social, and cultural/spiritual. All four must
be addressed in order to achieve healthy and sustainable communities. Hence, the debate over
cleanup standards, environmental regulations, and liability safeguards must proceed from a realistic
understanding of the environmental health and safety characteristics of the urban environment. The
urban ecosystem shows clearly the relationship of these four environments, and the importance of the
fourth environment-Cultural/Spiritual-to provide an understanding of shared values to achieve healthy
environments and sustainable communities.
The characteristics of the urban environment include: (1) an oversaturation of communities with
multiple sources of environmental pollution in highly congested spaces, (2) the co-existence of
residential and industrial sites as a result of imprudent land use decisions, (3) a lack of documentation
of most environmental health risks in urban communities, (4) the existence of as yet not understood
effects of multiple, cumulative, and synergistic risks, (5) the absence of a comprehensive environmental
enforcement and compliance activity which results, for some communities, in a virtual non-existence of
such activity, (6) the lack of health services and adequate information on environmental risks, (7) the
severe decay in the institutional infrastructure, and (8) a high degree of social alienation and decay
caused by living in degraded physical environments.
The profusion of abandoned and/or contaminated industrial and commercial sites is a legacy of
industrialization and patterns of growth which foster social decay by treating land, natural resources,
communities, and populations as expendable and disposable commodities. Any redevelopment
strategy must be thoroughly examined to ascertain its guiding vision and potential pitfalls. It must not be
the vehicle for development of yet another generation of hazardous sites. It must not be the instrument
of ecologically-unsustainable or socially-unjust development.
//. The Ecological Importance of Urban Areas
In choosing to concentrate on urban revitalization as a major focus, the Subcommittee underscores the
societal and ecological importance of cities. Besides being the centers of economic, technological,
educational, and cultural activity in an increasingly multiracial United States, urban environments pose
vastly important opportunities for advancing human understanding of environmental protection needs for
the 21st century. Solving these questions will have enormous implications for habitat development not
only for the United States but also a shrinking and increasingly interdependent world.
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"We are looking at environmental justice in a regional context. It is
a vision of making links between different communities across the
region with common perspectives of how we look at social issues as
well as environmental issues. Based upon that, we seek to develop
strategies that help to address the polarization between suburban and
inner city areas. Working on Brownfields gives us an opportunity to
make this tangible."
Carl Anthony
Urban Habitat Program
Oakland, CA, Public Dialogue
The paradox that faces us at the
end of the 20th century is that
urban areas are ecologically the
most efficient forms of human
spatial organization, while at the
same time they are among the
most polluted. Urban areas
present pressing challenges on
the cutting edge of environmental
protection and sustainable
development, including such
challenges as multiple,
cumulative, and synergistic risks;
pollution prevention; creation of
environmentally-related jobs; development of "green," non-polluting, and environmentally restorative
urban development; and building of mass transit and ecologically-beneficial infrastructures; as well as a
host of other issues.
Given the massive scale of human development, these are challenges the Nation cannot afford to
ignore. Urban environmental issues must be addressed from the perspective of their natural
ecosystems (for example, watersheds, airsheds, etc.) and their social ecosystems (for example,
neighborhoods, metropolitan areas, regions, etc). As exemplified by the "Brownfields redevelopment
versus Greenfields development" debate, the course of development in urban areas has enormous
impacts for the past, present, and future ecological integrity of rural areas.
The Subcommittee believes that an affirmative commitment to urban revitalization will lead to a
necessary evaluation of traditional social policy and value systems. At this point, the nation lacks the
tools to measure the true costs-economic, environmental, cultural, social, and spiritual-of the
untenable and unsustainable treatment of goods, communities, and population as expendable and
disposable commodities. The Subcommittee attests to a critical need for the nation to embrace the
concepts of reuse, recycling, renewal, revitalization, and rebirth. The ecological crisis exemplified by the
state of the urban environment offers such an opportunity.
///. Refraining the Urban/Rural Dichotomy
One context for understanding the Brownfields
issue is the issue of urbanization. Urbanization
refers to the formation, growth, and transformation
of human communities as centers of industrial,
commercial, social, and cultural activity. From an
ecological perspective, this affects both urban and
rural areas in an interdependent manner. A
multiplicity of development issues such as
residential patterns, displacement throught
gentrification, transportation policy, the flow of
capital, and others profoundly affect patterns of
growth. Environmental justice recognizes the
inextricable linkages between these as economic,
environmental, cultural, and social issues.
Industrialization and Urbanization
Nothing better illustrates the severity of the twin
phenomena of industrialization and urbanization
than Richard Monastersky's 1994 article in Science
News, entitled "Earthmovers: Humans take their
place alongside wind, water, and ice" ( Vol. 146,
Dec. 24 & 31, 1994, pp. 432-433).
According to the article, studies suggest that human
activity, as of 1994, now transforms the earth's
surface at a rate that exceeds natural geological
processes. It is estimated that homo sapiens move
an average of seven tons of earth a year for every
man, woman, and child on the planet.
Twentieth century human development is
characterized by the interrelated twin phenomena
of industrialization and urbanization. The
emergence of centers of industrial activity always
gave rise to a corresponding appearance of
proximate population centers. Historically, society has been deficient in its attention to issues
surrounding such "spontaneously" developing communities.9 Urbanization refers not merely to events in
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the Northern "rust-belt" cities but also to the phenomenon that is taking place along the U.S.-Mexico
border in the form of a mindless urban sprawl called "colonias."
The Subcommittee argues that only through an affirmative declaration of the importance of the urban
environment can the Nation begin to bridge the dichotomy between urban and rural areas. We need to
develop models which unify rather than pit urban versus non-urban concerns. The urban sprawl issue
forces us to envision new ecological relationships which are metropolitan, regional, national, and global.
By its very nature, the Brownfields issue forces us to look at an entire community as we try to balance
environmental concerns and economic possibilities. In many cases, it becomes an ideal vehicle for
envisioning the future in new ways.
In addition, even though this report focuses primarily on urban revitalization/Brownfields issues, the
NEJAC Subcommittee is mindful that Brownfields issue exist in rural areas. Brownfields issues are also
matters of great concern on Native American lands and in the U.S. territories, most of which is rural in
nature. Nonetheless, development patterns have reached the point where urbanization has direct
economic, environmental, social, and ecological consequences for rural lands. All references to
Indigenous peoples, Native Americans, and Tribes includes American Indians and Alaskan Natives.
IV. Confronting the Issue of Race and Class
Embedded into America's industrial legacy are a host of issues related to race and class. The nation
cannot ignore the very obvious and central place that issues of race occupy in the daily lives of all its
citizens. There exists a "great racial divide" in American society. This divide is manifest through our
treatment of issues related to urban America.
Not more than six months after the historic First National People of Color Environmental Leadership
Summit held in 1991, the largest urban disturbance in American history took place in South Central Los
Angeles. Events in Los Angeles raised the question of how long the "quiet riots"10 (a phrase drawn from
the title of a 20-year retrospective to the 1968 Kerner Commission Report) in America's central cities will
continue to remain unheard. Issues at the heart of these "quiet riots" are inextricably linked to
environmental justice and Brownfields, such as residential segregation, economic disinvestment,
environmental pollution, inaccessibility to health care, educational disadvantage, lack of employment
opportunity, and the inextricable link between living in degraded physical environments, alienation, and
destructive violence.
All policy makers must find every opportunity to forthrightly confront issues of race and class in
American society. Not to do so is shortsighted for the following reasons: (1) Race is a matter at the
heart of many issues related to urban America and we as a nation must learn how to talk about it in
constructive ways; (2) Healthy and sustainable communities cannot be achieved without fully
understanding how racism seriously devalues communities; and (3) American society in the 21st
century will be increasingly multiracial and multicultural. Dramatic demographic shifts are taking place.
The choices we make today will decide whether or not 21st-century America will witness a social turmoil
or a multiracial and multicultural renaissance where the gifts of all peoples can flourish.11 It is
imperative that guidance be provided-particularly to our youth who will inherit the consequences of
choices we make today-to reinforce a sense of purpose for a common future and to focus them
towards a goal of narrowing and eliminating racial divisions.
V. Urban Revitalization and Community-Driven Models of Redevelopment
"Urban revitalization" is very different from "urban redevelopment." The two concepts are not
synonymous and should not be confused with each other. Urban revitalization is a bottom-up process.
It proceeds from a community-based vision of its needs and aspirations and seeks to build capacity,
build partnerships, and mobilize resources to make the vision a reality. Revitalization, as we define it,
does not lead to displacement of communities through gentrification that often results from
redevelopment policies. Governments must not simply view communities as an assortment of problems
but also as a collection of assets. Social scientists and practitioners have already compiled
methodologies to apply community planning models.
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There must be opportunities for full
articulation of the importance of
public participation in Brownfields
issue. While public participation is
cross-cutting in nature, its meaning
is shaped within the context of
concrete issues. It is not merely a
set of mechanical prescriptions but
a process of bottom-up
engagement that is "living." With
regards to Brownfields and the
future of urban America, Public
Dialogue participants were
emphatic that "without
meaningful community
involvement, urban revitalization
simply becomes urban
redevelopment."
John Kretzmann and John L. McKnight summarized the key steps
in applying community planning models in their book, Building
Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and
Mobilizing A Community's Assets:
*• Mapping completely the capacities and assets of individuals,
citizens' associations, and local institutions
* Building relationships among local assets for mutually
beneficial problem-solving within the community
* Mobilizing the community's assets fully for economic
development and information sharing purposes
* Convening as broadly representative a group as possible for the
purposes of building a community vision and plan
* Leveraging activities, investments and resources from outside
the community to support asset-based, locally-defined
development.
VI. Community Mapping and Community-Based Environmental Protection
Mapping offers us an entirely new way of looking at and thinking about the world. A principal tenet of
community-based planning is the thesis that a community which has a strong sense of itself is capable
of beincj more self-defined, self-directed, and self-controlled, and thus more capable of shaping its own
future.
•T2
There appears to be an ever-expanding number of community groups who are expressing an interest in
mapping one's own community. These include organizations concerned about environmental justice,
environmental and public health, community planning and development, and other issues related to
achieving healthy and sustainable communities. This "spontaneous" development is a matter of no
small consequence. Recent projects to incorporate community mapping as an important element
include the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (Laotian girls mapping their Richmond, California
neighborhood); Tucsonians fora Clean Environment (development in south Tucson, Arizona); worker
training projects such as Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, Asian Pacific
Environmental Network, University of California/Berkeley, and the University of Massachusetts/Lowell;
LAND VIEW II
A Community Mapping Tool
LAND VIEW II—an electronic atlas with the ability to do thematic mapping—is a unique electronic tool which
can be the hub of a virtual revolution in community mapping. As described by EPA, LAND VIEW II is an
innovative community right-to-know software tool. In the form of an electronic atlas, published on CD-ROM
discs, LAND VIEW can be used on standard personal computers. While LAND VIEW lends itself to a
myriad of applications, its greatest significance lies in its useability and adaptability by communities.
LAND VIEW II is the product of a collaboration among EPA, the Bureau of the Census, and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As the product of a multi-agency cooperative effort that
was developed with substantial community input, LAND VIEW II bespeaks of what government should be
doing in terms of providing tools that can empower the public.
The Subcommittee incorporated demonstrations of LAND VIEW II as a major part of the Public Dialogues.
The universally positive reception by the communities underscored the Subcommittee's belief that mapping can
be a highly empowering scoping, documenting, and planning tool. Such tools give a community the ability to
visualize and "know" itself.
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and the Environmental Health Coalition, (chemical hazards in mixed-use Barrio Logan community in
San Diego, California).13 One of the most powerful elements of the landmark United Church of Christ
Commission for Racial Justice report Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States™ was its maps.
Virtually every proposal on empowerment zones and Brownfields uses mapping.
Projects with more resources such as the Hunter College/Greenpoint-Williamsburg Environmental
Benefits Program have done true computer-based CIS projects. Eugenic Maria de Hostos Community
College in the South Bronx is undertaking a major community-university partnership project in this area.
The San Francisco-based Urban Habitat Program has done mapping of military toxic waste sites and
the impact of defense base closures in East Bay Flatlands areas. 5 Several EPA regional offices also
have undertaken CIS studies. For example, EPA Region III is utilizing CIS in Chester, Pennsylvania
and at the Portsmouth, Virginia Superfund site. In varying degrees of complexity, these projects offer
readily applicable tools for conducting community mapping projects.
Exciting new tools exist for communities to participate in conducting environmental inventories and
environmental mapping. These include right-to-know information, electronic mapping systems like
LandView II, more sophisticated geographic information systems (CIS), and others. It is critical that
these tools be made available to communities. Beside its implications for community-based planning,
community mapping will be critical to addressing issues of multiple, cumulative, and synergistic risk. By
fully engaging the community, these tools provide a way to begin addressing data gap problems in
oversaturated urban communities where virtually none of the environmental health risks have yet to be
documented. Thus, community mapping provides a key link to making progress on issues such as
cumulative risk and the concept of establishing the "baseline aggregate environmental load" fora given
community.
EPA has begun to embrace the concept of "community-based environmental protection." This is an
outgrowth of an appreciation that the elements of an ecosystem are more than natural and physical, but
also social and cultural. It has its roots in placed-based community-wide targeted geographic initiatives
and the concept of ecosystem management.16 As we look to a new generation of environmental
protection, the use of community mapping becomes a strategy to coherently integrate diverse issues,
locations, and communities into a community-based planning model. The import of these tools for
addressing urban revitalization/Brownfields issues is strikingly apparent.
VII. Executive Order 12898 and Government Reinvention
Recognizing that environmental justice and the issues related to Brownfields are by their very nature
cross-cutting and multi-disciplinary, the Subcommittee sought to engage a debate over the use of
Executive Order 12898-- Federal Actions to Ensure Environmental Justice in Minority and Low Income
Communities. The concept of an executive order about environmental justice was included in a
Transition Paper to the Clinton-Gore Administration developed by a coalition of grassroots
environmental justice groups, civil rights organizations, and scholars. Part of the vision that guided this
proposal was the overriding need to reinvent the federal government and adopt a comprehensive
approach toward addressing a set of related social, economic, and environmental issues, such as
unequal protection, environmental racism, and disproportionate impact of environmental pollution on
communities of color and low income communities.17
Signed by President Clinton on February 11, 1994, Executive Order 12898 called upon 17 federal
agencies to develop strategic plans to address environmental justice. The agencies included EPA, the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the U.S. Department of
Interior (DOI), and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Executive Order also established the IWG.
The Subcommittee took the position that only such an approach can begin to address the interrelated
issues associated with urban revitalization and Brownfields. Throughout the Public Dialogues, the
Subcommittee posed the question of whether or not Executive Order 12898 and the IWG can be
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vehicles for coalescing a strategy for linking environmental justice to addressing one of the most
intractable problems of ourtimes-the state of the urban environment.
There is no greater challenge than recasting a vision of how government should work. This must start
with the original and most enduring proponents of government reinvention, such as community residents
engaged in overcoming systemic impediments to locally-based solutions. Environmental justice
activists and many communities have taken leadership in applying their grassroots visions of healthy
and sustainable communities to issues of government reinvention. In addition to the Public Dialogues,
there have been many occasions-both formal and informal-where extremely worthwhile grassroots
discussions of sustainability have taken place. National policy makers would benefit greatly from such
discussions.
The role of the public sector is one of the most pressing issues in present American political discourse.
The question reveals itself in virtually all issues surrounding the Brownfields debate, including the future
of cities, urban sprawl, economic and environmental sustainability, racial polarization and social equity,
defense conversion, transportation, public health, housing and residential patterns, energy conservation,
materials reuse, pollution prevention, urban agriculture, job creation and career development, education,
and the link between living in degraded physical environments, alienation, and destructive violence.
These issues translate into specific questions regarding (1) how the Brownfields Initiative can be most
effectively implemented, and (2) a larger effort capable of coalescing the work of all federal agencies
and imbuing them with a common mission capable of providing a truly authentic sign of hope to the
American people.
Efforts to make Brownfields projects more effective
include:
* linking with federal facilities cleanup and defense
conversion
* coordinating job training and career development
resources
* linking with transportation development, particularly
inner city mass transit
* coordinating community wide environmental
protection and public health strategies
* integrating pollution prevention and environmental
cleanup activities
* linking with urban agriculture and public lands
development
* integrating future materials use strategies and
recycling
* incorporating energy conservation and green business
development
* addressing housing development and residential
pattern
* coordinating support for small business development
To approach these questions without a clear
perspective on the relationship between
communities and government reinvention
would be imprudent. The original and most
enduring proponents of government
reinvention are community residents
engaged in overcoming systemic
impediments to locally-based solutions. The
Public Dialogues illustrated in profound ways
how communities have compelling visions of
what constitutes healthy and sustainable
communities. The heart and soul of an
authentic government reinvention process is
the many vibrant and coherent community-
based visions of healthy and sustainable
communities. Resources must be devoted to
help craft these visions into coherent and
compelling paradigms for positive change.
Such community-based visions provide the
compass for public policy discourse and
government restructuring. By definition,
genuine government reinvention cannot
take place unless it is a community-driven
process.
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VIII. Environmental Justice and the Next Generation of Environmental Protection
When the environmental justice movement posited the notion that "people must speak for themselves"
about an environment defined as "the place where we live, where we work, and where we play," it
established a framework for functionally bridging the key components of emerging environmental policy,
including ecosystem management and community-based environmental protection, equal protection,
pollution prevention, cumulative risk, partnership building, programmatic integration, and accountability
to the public.18 This fact needs to be elevated as a major tenet of emerging environmental policy.
Environmental justice is predicated upon the fact that the health of the members of a community, both
individually and collectively, is a product of physical, social, cultural, and spiritual factors. It provides a
key to understanding an integrative environmental policy which treats our common ecosystem as the
basis for all life (human and non-human) and activity (economic and otherwise).
A systematic public discourse over issues of race and the environment began around the siting of
hazardous waste and other noxious facilities. Initially, issues of race and the environment were
understood only within the narrow context of the siting issue. To a large extent, those who are out of
touch with communities continue to focus only on this issue. However, the issues associated with
environmental justice have grown exponentially as more and more communities demand that their day-
to-day issues-be they residential, occupational, or otherwise-be made part of the discourse over
environmental policy.
Moreover, there exists the need to examine ways of integrating place-based approaches to
environmental protection with sector-based approaches. This has enormous implications for industrial
policy. In fact, the Brownfields issue is a critical nexus for understanding the need for such integration.
More likely than not, any industrial sector which has entered its second generation and beyond will have
large numbers of Brownfields sites. They are the inescapable byproducts of current patterns of
industrial/urban development. Far thinking economic and environmental analysts realize that one must
take into account the benefits and costs of the entire "life-cycle" of an individual plant or facility or
industrial sector. Failure to do so inevitably results in passing costs from one generation to another.
Thus, Brownfields represent the costs which were externalized during the 1950s and must be paid for
today. The urban sprawl/Brownfields issues makes it evident that the natural and human ecosystems
may be fast approaching the limits of their capacity to maintain such development patterns. There are
grave perils to a failure in not turning this way of doing business on its head so that such considerations
are addressed at the front end.
Likewise, pollution prevention must be integrated into all Brownfields projects as an overarching
principle. Brownfields projects can provide unique opportunities to apply the pollution prevention
concept in practical ways. Most Brownfields communities have both cleanup and toxic release
problems. Turning them into livable communities means that both have to be addressed. For example,
if you do cleanup without pollution prevention, the same set of problems will reemerge. The community
must be involved in developing pollution prevention strategies because they often have the most
practical and innovative ideas.
Pollution prevention must be integrated into all Brownfields projects as an overarching principle.
Brownfields projects can provide unique opportunities to apply the pollution prevention concept in
practical ways. Most Brownfields communities have both cleanup and toxic release problems. Turning
them into livable communities means that both have to be addressed. For example, if you do cleanup
without pollution prevention, the same set of problems will reemerge. To date, the concept of pollution
prevention has been noticeably absent from the Brownfields dialogue. To avoid yet another generation
of Brownfields, pollution prevention must be aggressively introduced before plans for redevelopment
have become entrenched. Education about pollution prevention must take place at the earliest stages.
While most stakeholders have a basic understanding of pollution prevention as a general concept,
residents, developers, financiers, and other stakeholders must translate this general concept into a
common jargon and practical models. The community must be involved in developing pollution
prevention strategies because they often have the most practical and innovative ideas. They have the
most at stake when it comes to ensuring that a site never returns to its past brownfields state.
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Environmental justice represents a new vision borne out of a community-driven process whose essential
core is a transformative public discourse over what are truly healthy, sustainable, and vital communities.
It flows out of 500 years of struggle for survival by people of color in a multiracial and multicultural
society where they were excluded from the full benefits of citizenship or equal rights by one group. It
was not coincidental that civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled to Memphis, Tennessee in
1968 to address "an economic and environmental justice dispute for sanitation workers striking for
better wages, improved working conditions, and equity with other municipal workers."19
Over the past decade, environmental justice has made tremendous contributions to understanding the
profound value of public participation and accountability in formulating public policy and making
decisions about the environment. It has reshaped the discourse around public health and environment
risks to include the path-breaking issue of multiple, cumulative, and synergistic risk. It has pressed for a
new paradigm for conducting community-driven science and holistic place-based, and systems-wide
environmental protection. Environmental justice will be the seed-bed for the development of a set of
new frameworks and tools truly capable of producing physically and psychologically healthy,
economically and ecologically sustainable, and culturally and spiritually vital communities.
Environmental justice is uniquely equipped to provide the visions, frameworks, and tools to address one
of the most critical issues of our times. The future of America's cities is a matter of great concern not
only to its residents but also to the future of habitats generally, both urban and rural. The crisis in urban
America is fundamentally an ecological one-in the fullest sense of the word.20 Indeed many issues
posed in the Brownfields debate will determine America's fate not only as a society, but as a civilization.
A key contribution of environmental justice over the next several years will be a transformative
discourse over how to achieve healthy and sustainable communities in the 21st century.
Suggested Pollution Prevention Resources
to be Provided by EPA
Different communication tools (for example, fact sheets and handbooks) could be developed to describe the
following:
Community Planning
• How to include pollution prevention and waste minimization into the early stages of the
redevelopment planning process.
• Questions to ask during the planning process.
• Lists of federal and state contacts.
Development and Investment Tools
• Information on financing and insurance products to support pollution prevention and waste
minimization.
• State and local government program options that encourage pollution prevention and waste
minimization.
Technical Information
• Industry-specific (for example, dry cleaners, electro platers, etc.) Products on the technical how-tos of
incorporating pollution prevention and waste minimization into their facility.
• Information on substituting toxic substances with safer substances.
• Case studies of actual businesses that have adopted pollution prevention and waste minimization into
their industrial or commercial processes.
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URBAN REVITALIZATION/BROWNFIELDS RECOMMENDATIONS
Abandoned commercial and industrial properties called "Brownfields" which dot the urban landscape are
overwhelmingly concentrated in people of color, low-income, indigenous peoples, and otherwise
marginalized communities. By their very nature, Brownfields are inseparable from issues of social
inequity, racial discrimination and urban decay-specifically manifested in adverse land use decisions,
housing discrimination, residential segregation, community disinvestment, infrastructure decay, lack of
educational and employment opportunity, and other issues.
The existence of degraded and hazardous physical environments in people of color, low-income,
indigenous peoples, and otherwise disenfranchised communities, is apparent and indisputable. The
physical elements of such environments, in part or in whole, have contributed to human disease and
illness, negative psycho-social impact, economic disincentive, infrastructure decay, and overall
community disintegration. Brownfields are merely one aspect of this phenomenon.
Environmental justice and Brownfields are inextricably linked; the inescapable context for examination of
the Brownfields issue is environmental justice and urban revitalization. At the core of an environmental
justice perspective is the recognition of the interconnectedness of the physical environment to the
overall economic, social, human, and cultural/spiritual health of a community. The vision of
environmental justice is the development of a paradigm to achieve socially equitable, environmentally
healthy, economically secure, psychologically vital, spiritually whole, and ecologically sustainable
communities. To this end, Brownfields redevelopment must be linked to help address this broader set
of community needs and goals without creating new problems, such as displacement caused from
selective revitalization. Brownfields initiatives and community planning should ensure the long-term
survivability of existing communities.
Such an approach has important ramifications for the development of strategies, partnerships, models,
and pilot projects. It requires a firm commitment toward achieving the goals of environmental justice
and must involve the community as an equal partner. In addition, the approach must integrate activities
of all federal agencies as well as their state, local, and tribal counterparts. Through these Public
Dialogues, communities have articulated a highly compelling vision of the future that speaks to all levels
of government. The recommendations that follow were developed within the framework of a number of
overarching questions that emerged as the Subcommittee traveled across the nation and heard
testimony from the participants in the Public Dialogues.
Recommendations have been grouped into three basic categories:
I. Public Participation and Community Vision
1. Informed and Empowered Community Involvement
2. Community Vision/Comprehensive Community Based Planning
3. Role and Participation of Youth
II. Key Issue Areas
4. Equal Protection
5. Public Health, Environmental Standards, and Liability
6. Job Creation, Training, and Career Development
7. Land Use
III. Public and Private Sector Partnerships
8. Community/Private Sector Partnerships
9. Local, State, Tribal, and Territorial Government
10. Federal Interagency Cooperation, Programmatic Integration, and Government
Reinvention
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Given the cross-cutting nature of the issues surrounding urban revitalization and Brownfields, these
recommendations should be viewed as an integrative set. Each recommendation is an important and
indispensable piece of the larger puzzle. Therefore, no single recommendation, nor a subset of
recommendations, should be viewed in isolation from the others.
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1.
I. PUBLIC PARTICIPA TION AND COMMUNITY VISION
Informed and Empowered Community Involvement
Early, ongoing, and meaningful public
participation is a hallmark of sound
public policy and decision making.
This requires that those most directly
impacted are capable of exercising
effectively their prerogatives and
obligations to provide public input.
Hence, the Subcommittee believes
that public participation is
meaningless if it is not informed and
empowered community involvement.
Issues typically worthy of government
attention such as Brownfields are
highly complex and pose real
challenges to policy makers as to
how to develop and master the tools,
methodologies, frameworks,
processes, and protocols necessary
for effective and meaningful public
participation. Such issues typically
involve multiple communities,
different cultures and languages,
diverse stakeholders, time frames,
multiple locations, a broad range of
agencies and institutions, and other
factors. More often than not, the
issues involve conflicting interests,
agendas, and value systems.
Typically these issues involve four
elements: (1) facts are uncertain, (2)
values are in dispute, (3) stakes are
high, and (4) a decision is urgent. While an appropriate description of the many environmentally related
issues facing society today, the environmental justice framework eloquently speaks to the need for
meaningful public participation in the conduct of science and use of technology.
One key element of ensuring informed and empowered community involvement is that this participation
must be early and meaningful-taking place "up front"-not an after-thought. Participants at the Public
Dialogues stressed a new power relationship within which communities are an integral part of the
decision-making process "from beginning to end." Unfortunately, too often communities are consulted
only after a decision has been made. Too often, government response to community questions results
in their operating in a "decide, adapt, and defend" mode. The community is inherently qualified to be
"at the table" during discussions about matters which affect them. Moreover, several participants
cautioned that just because a person was at the table does not necessarily mean they are part of the
decision-making process. For example, grant proposals often create the impression that community
groups are more involved in the development of a project proposal than is actually the case. This
becomes a source of friction and distrust.
Government officials should be accountable for not only providing opportunities for public input, but in
making a good faith effort to succeed in securing public input, it is not enough to simply hold a meeting
or provide opportunities for accesss. It should be noted that Native American tribes are governmental
entities-as such, the tribal members of tribal governments should be included in all public participation
and outreach activities.
"If there is any hope of revitalizing our urban communities, we
have to begin with revitalizing the participation of the citizenry.
We know that apathy is rampant, especially in economically
disadvantaged communities. But for us to build sustainable
communities, we must take the time to cut through the apathy. It
will take time because people of color and low income
communities are not just disenfranchised economically; we are
disenfranchised psychologically because we have witnessed a
history of being locked out of the decision-making process.
Connie Tucker
Southern Organizing Committee for
Social and Economic Justice
Atlanta, GA, Public Dialogue
"I was struck by the vivid separation of the revitalization theme
from the more common basis for cleanup and reuse for purposes
of redevelopment. I found this to be an incisive and important
distinction to make, as it provides the logical justification for the
report's emphasis on community participation throughout the
revitalization process. If the purpose is only redevelopment, then
it can be handled as business as usual, and there is little need for
public participation besides that required by law (for example,
zoning or permit decisions). It is very important to be upfront
and direct with this distinction."
Tom Kennedy
Association of State and Territorial
Solid Waste Management Officials
20
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Meaningful participation is different in many ways from holding public meetings or getting letters of
support. Participants noted that:
• Ongoing stakeholder involvement is the only way to ensure that the affected community can
influence technical and economic decisions.
• The community brings a wealth of site-specific knowledge to the table. Ongoing mechanisms
such as advisory boards allow participants to get beyond posturing and to work together
cooperatively.
• Upfront community involvement reduces the likelihood that political or legal action will block
projects down the road.
It is not enough to provide access to information or opportunities to provide comment. Decision-makers
must make an effort to truly consider the advice offered by the community. It is important that these
decision-makers not only provide opportunities for affected communities to provide advice, but
demonstrate that they are "hearing" the advice offered. Admittedly, decisions that may be selected may
not agree with the recommendations offered; however, the best way to build credibility with the affected
community is to show that it is seriously considering its advice.
With respect to public participation and the EPA Brownfields Initiative, there is typically much confusion
around the fact that EPA's grants must go to a state, local, or tribal government. Community groups
with an interest in a local Brownfields site thus may waste much time and energy because they are
unaware that they need to develop strategies and build partnerships to ensure public accountability on
the part of local officials and enhance the local Brownfields proposals. Most important, many
community residents have both the desire to assist the city and much knowledge to offer, but lack
resources and information to participate fully.
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
1-1. Support sustained and structured public dialogue on Brownfields and environmental justice
on all levels.
The Subcommittee appreciates EPA's realization of the need for and its commitment to a systematic
and sustained national dialogue on Brownfields and environmental justice. Such a commitment
requires some structured mechanisms (such as community advisory boards) for communities to engage
EPA, government and other stakeholders, around their concerns. In this case, NEJAC developed its
Public Participation Model upon which the Public Dialogues were modeled. Other mechanisms-on
national, regional, and local levels-must be created and supported. In addition to traditional areas of
public participation (such as planning and the oversight of cleanup) the public should play a role in the
review of research projects, and the development of grant proposals.
1 -2. Develop efforts to empower stakeholders through information and education. Conduct the
Brownfields program in ways which offer a real sense of hope.
Public Dialogue participants indicated that many residents of impacted communities do not participate
due to despair, apathy, lack of time and resources, or because they have just given up. In addition to
specific recommendations to ensure better access, ranging from holding meetings at convenient times
and accessible places to use of non-traditional outreach methods, the Subcommittee also emphasizes
the need for government to foster encouragement and a sense of hope that is based upon results. In
addition to participation in the decision-making process, residents must also participate in any social,
environmental, and economic benefits that results from decisions. The education process also must
include ways to provide communities with enough tools and information so they understand they can
influence the political process beyond existing mechanisms.
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1-3. Undertake special outreach efforts to overlooked groups.
Even programs that are targeted to communities of color still overlook key sectors of impacted
communities. Examples cited during the Public Dialogues include Laotian Americans in Richmond,
California; Arab-Americans in Detroit, Michigan; and Native Americans in various urban areas. At the
same time, each of these groups has unique historical and cultural circumstances which must be
considered.
1. ACTION ITEMS
D 1a. Institute policies and performance measures which encourage program personnel and
policy makers to spend substantive time in neighborhoods as a regular part of their work so
that there is understanding of real problems, concerns, and aspirations of community residents.
D 1 b. Define "community" at each site in a way that is inclusive but gives priority to people who
live or work closest to a site and/or are most directly impacted by activities at the site.
D 1c. Implement mechanisms and structures through which the community can take part in
reviewing and evaluating progress.
D 1d. Institute ways to improve the public's access to information on urban
revitalization/Brownfields, including:
• Support the establishment of "storefront" type clearinghouses and repositories of Brownfields
information in impacted communities for open access to information and create atmosphere for
ongoing dialogue and planning (a good example is the Brownfields pilot project in
Northhampton County/Cape Charles, Virginia)
• Hold meetings at convenient times and locations
• Provide day care and translation
• Utilize innovative and non-traditional outreach methods such as school programs, posters,
advertisements in local papers, community newsletters, and electronic mail
• Build upon existing social and cultural networks such as schools, churches, and civic
organizations
D 1e. Institute procedures and protocols to verify demonstrable partnerships with community-
based groups in project proposals. Prospective grants and other support to city, state, and
tribal governments should contain specific agreed language regarding, and be adequately
funded to support, continuing public participation, such as the establishment of community
advisory boards made up of people most impacted by Brownfields sites.
D 1f. Conduct an inventory of the language resources available for serving potentially-impacted
communities.
D 1g. Convene a summit meeting of all stakeholders working on or affected by Brownfields
projects as an opportunity to bring together all parties to discuss critical issues, craft unified
strategies, and determine actions for follow-up.
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2.
Community Vision/Comprehensive Community-Based Planning
There exists within local communities
highly coherent, vibrant, and
compelling visions for achieving
healthy and sustainable
communities. Such visions,
particularly in people of color, low
income, indigenous peoples, and
otherwise marginalized communities,
emerge from a long history of
grassroots efforts to be self-defined,
self-directed, self-empowered, self-
controlled, self-sufficient, and self-
determined. Many communities
already are engaging in highly
successful planning and visioning
processes. Government must
acknowledge that these already exist.
Brownfields and all community
revitalization efforts must be based
upon such community visions. The
capacity of local communities to
identify and build upon the assets
which ensure that a healthy and
sustainable community, is an
invaluable resource to the nation.
These assets are economic, social,
human, institutional, physical, natural,
cultural, intellectual, and spiritual in
nature.
Public Dialogue participants
articulated the importance of
developing holistic, multi-faceted,
interactive, and integrative
community-based planning models
for Brownfields and urban
revitalization. They view community-
based planning as an alternative to
the current dependence on
developer-driven models that
traditionally define the Brownfields
problem in a narrow way.
Community-based planning is a
framework for identifying and solving
problems. Instead of addressing
problems piecemeal and then applying a "one-size fits all" solution, community-based planning has the
flexibility to confront problems in the context of the region, the ecosystem, the city, or the neighborhood
in which they occur.
In the eyes of the community, the Brownfields issue is more than the simple identification of
contaminated sites and goes beyond the definitions created by developers. The community defines the
problem from the vantage point of their aspirations. There was support for this premise from virtually all
Public Dialogue participants, including representatives of the business community and lending
institutions. Each realized that "if we're not addressing transportation, housing, education and training,
and racism and other driving factors that have led to deindustrialization of our urban areas and loss of
"Periodically, societies need to create movements that stretch
our humanity as we transform ourselves and our environment at
the same time. It's been very exciting to be a part of such a
movement. I will try to convey in a few words what is happening
so that you can catch the spirit...I'm convinced that out of the
devastation of Detroit, we are at the point here today where we
can really redefine, rebuild, respirit, and recivilize the city. As
you drive through Detroit, it's very easy to see the vacant lots
and the abandoned buildings. What is harder to see behind the
physical devastation is the new spirit that is arising in the city
and finds its expression chiefly in the explosion of meetings that
has taken place in the last year. There are meetings of hundreds
and thousands of people, namely around the empowerment zone
and the Land Use Task Force. ..But there are smaller meetings.
For example, there's a group called Healthy Detroit, of which
the Mayor is the honorary chair... Here in Detroit, we started by
building a common vision."
Grace Boggs
Detroiters for Environmental Justice
Detroit, MI, Public Dialogue
"What would Detroit be like if there was a call to put major
resources into economic self-reliance that would create economic
livelihood opportunities in communities? A vision is what has
been portrayed but has never been. It raises one's sights of what
might be. It's inspiring and hopeful.... What would a new
community-based economy look like? It must be real and
tangible and immediate. I can see it, I can touch it, I can almost
taste it...
"If we ignore the development of an urban agricultural base in
Detroit, we will miss the opportunity to really make Detroit a
great city. In the 21st century, only those cities that develop a
sound policy of such urban, social, and ecological developments
will flourish. I believe that we will only move forward toward
this future if we begin to adopt and integrate the Principles of
Environmental Justice into our day-to-day fabric, and that's the
future that I look forward to."
John Gruchala
Wayne County Community College
Detroit, MI, Public Dialogue
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vitality, then addressing Brownfields, environmental contamination and liability alone will not be a
significant benefit for people in the communities."
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
2-1. Base Brownfields pilots and other efforts upon coherent community visions which emerge
from processes that have integrity within a community by ensuring opportunities for
communities to articulate their own visions for "redefining, rebuilding, and respiriting" their
communities.
Such visions must be comprehensive and address community revitalization, education, environmental
cleanup and redevelopment, job creation and training, economic impacts, housing, and development of
institutional infrastructures. Several participants at the Public Dialogues pointed to local efforts to build
common visions that allow people from various backgrounds to come together and form a common
vision that incorporates the needs of different sectors of the population.
2-2. Acknowledge community-based planning as a critical methodology for environmental
protection and promote its use both inside and outside the Agency.
Several participants spoke about the need to develop tools that can be placed in the hands of
community members which can help them to address issues related to environmental justice,
community-based planning, and urban revitalization. They noted the importance of using such tools
when forming a collective community vision. Participants pointed to numerous examples of community-
based planning tools, including:
*• South Bronx/NYC Ordinance 197A Planning Process (Vernice Miller-Northeast Environmental
Justice Network)
*• Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision Project (Ed Miller-Charles Stewart Mott Foundation)
*• San Diego Toxic Free Neighborhoods Community Planning
*• Guide (Diane Takvorian-Environmental Health Coalition)
*• Pocket of Poverty Neighborhood Alliance Strategic Plan (Teresa Cordova-University of New Mexico
at Albuquerque).
2-3. Support community-based efforts to link Brownfields projects to other redevelopment and
community enhancement strategies such as "Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities,
workforce development and job training, transportation infrastructure development, federal
facility cleanup, and others.
Virtually every federal agency has at least one program that addresses urban revitalization. However,
these programs are not coordinated and appear, to impacted communities, to be at cross-purposes.
This link should be done both at the federal policy level and in the field.
2-4. Encourage revitalization strategies and redevelopment efforts which serve to support,
enhance and protect a community's culture and history.
Such efforts should take into account both local and regional history. They should seek opportunities to
build upon cultural resources and efforts at historical preservation as vehicles for economic
development and enhancement of community-based assets.
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2. ACTION ITEMS
D 2a. Compile an inventory of the resources available within the Agency (such as LAND VIEW II
and other mapping programs) and outside of the Agency (such as an inventory of relevant
extramural literature, experiences, experts, tools, and practicing institutions) as part of its
community-based environmental protection efforts.
D 2b. Develop programs to provide to the community access to and training on the use of LAND
VIEW II, geographic information systems (CIS) and other electronic mapping resources.
D 2c. Develop pilot programs for place-based coordination of Federal agency activities.
D 2d. Provide training opportunities to communities in the use of community-based planning
techniques.
D 2e. Develop guidance for incorporation of community-based planning and community visioning
into Community-Based Environmental Protection initiatives.
D 2f. Convene a national roundtable on strategies for application and development of CIS and
community mapping tools.
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3. Role and Participation of Youth
Young people provided great energy,
creativity, and a sense of fresh vision
to the Public Dialogues. During the
meetings, they insisted on
participating in all dialogues and
decision-making processes. They
made some of the most compelling
presentations. For example, the
Public Dialogues yielded perhaps no
more thought provoking testimony
than the account of a 5-year old
African American boy's unsolicited
remark in which he associated being
black with living in burnt-out, empty,
trash-filled neighborhoods.
Environmental justice seeks to
address the functional link between
living in degraded physical
environments, mass alienation, and
destructive violence. Offering a
coherent way to impact this
relationship will significantly benefit
greatly those seeking to address
violence, substance abuse, and
related issues.
Many issues associated with
Brownfields are profoundly related to
the concerns of youth. The issues of
healthy and sustainable communities
are issues of a viable future.
Government and social institutions
have a moral obligation to ensure a
world fit for all children-present and
future. The youth are a precious
resource which must be affirmed,
supported, and nurtured.
Any discussion of Brownfields revitalization, to be successful, must involve the participation of the youth
in urban areas where Brownfields dominate. These youths will eventually be the decision makers for
their communities in the future. Therefore, to avoid making today's solutions tomorrow's dilemma for
the youth, it is essential to get their input.
The youths living in Brownfields areas often are already familiar with these sites. While they may be
unfamiliar with the term "Brownfields," they are aware of the opportunities presented by these sites. For
example, in some inner-city neighborhoods youths utilize some of these sites to engage in urban wildlife
preservation. They also can be found in many cities using Brownfields areas as sites where they raise
pigeons as a hobby. The youths take on the responsibility for providing the nurturing environment these
birds need to thrive. Such activities are akin to those of organizations that raise endangered species in
captivity. In our attempts to involve youth in discussions about Brownfields revitalization, we can take
advantage of the initiative demonstrated by these youth.
Additionally, meaningful employment and career prospects rank among the central questions facing
young persons-in many ways defining young people's sense of identity and connectedness to society.
"We have to talk about a vision that comes from the community,
but part of that community is young people. It can 'tjust be in
words alone. It really has to be about involving the young
people into the process...
"One of the young people who works with us, a brother, often
says that the solutions of today end up being the problems of
tomorrow. If young people are not sitting in on the process, are
not involved in the dialogue-I can understand how the solutions
for today will end up being the problems of tomorrow...
"[Young people] must be part of revitalizing our urban inner
cities. In so doing, we must look at building partnerships with
elementary schools, high schools. I know here in Atlanta there
are many schools which are built on top of landfills. Whether or
not they are cleaned up, the history is there. How many of our
children know that? How many of our parents actually know
that? We must look at the psychological impact on young people
today.
"When you look at the reality of lack of jobs, when you look at
the question of jobs versus the environment, we hear that, as
young people, we don't understand the dialogue that is taking
place around being able to develop real jobs that affect our
future so that our community can be truly sustainable.
"When you look at crime and violence in the communities, it is
all linked. Yet what it comes down to is the reality of how to
overcome these things. The psychological impact on young
people growing up in urban American must be filtered into our
public dialogue as we talk about revitalization."
Angela Brown
Youth Task Force
Atlanta, GA, Public Dialogue
26
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These are issues which must be engaged at the earliest age possible. EPA and other government
agencies must see it as their responsibility to work with young people to help present a message about
meaningful career prospects that are relevant to them.
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
3-1. Form the requisite partnerships both inside and outside of government to better
understand and address urban revitalization/Brownfields issues of concern to youth.
3-2. Through the Brownfields initiative, integrate environmental activities and career
development with targeted environmental justice and urban revitalization strategies.
A significant amount of resources and attention is devoted to engage young persons in the pursuit of
careers related to the environmental. Environmental justice and urban revitalization create opportunities
to make current educational programs more relevant by integrating study and action around issues
related to "the place where we live, work, and play." Public education can be engaged in highly
productive and compelling ways. EPA should partner with other agencies to support efforts by public
schools, community colleges, public and private universities, and other educational institutions to
integrate these issues.
Environmental justice and urban revitalization also offer opportunities to change the serious inadequacy
of cultural diversity in EPA and professions related to the environment. Moreover, they allow for
integration across disciplinary lines to make for career paths more relevant to the needs of the 21st
century.
3-3. Expand environmental education opportunities for urban youth through urban
environmental education centers.
YouthBuild
The YouthBuild program is an innovative and
successful program that responds to two problems that
pervade low-income communities: the need to reach
out to at-risk youth and the shortage of safe, affordable
housing. YouthBuild teaches low-income youth how to
provide housing for their communities by engaging
them in four mutually supportive areas:
* education
* employment training
* leadership development
* housing construction and rehabilitation
In the classroom, students receive both academic
education and skills instruction. On the construction
sites, with appropriate supervision, the students
rehabilitate abandoned buildings in poor communities-
creating affordable housing while gaining construction
skills.
YouthBuild has received national recognition for its
effectiveness in providing disadvantaged youth with
direction and hope, while simultaneously addressing the
need for affordable housing in low-income
communities.
Revitalization of Brownfields sites also present
the opportunity to expand the education for
inner-city youth. These sites could be converted
to urban environmental education centers that
could serve as a mechanism through which
youth could engage in environmental educational
activities. Since Brownfields sites are the result
of past environmental practices, these centers
could focus on activities that promote the long-
term sustainability of cities, and in turn, of the
sites themselves. Experiential education
programs take youth from urban areas to camps
outside the city to train them on team building
activities. The environmental education centers
could assume the function of these experiential
programs directly in the neighborhoods in which
the youth live. Such a change also allows for a
curriculum that focuses on issues (such as
environmental justice) that these youths face on
a daily basis. These centers also increase the
possibility that any solutions adopted for
Brownfields revitalization today will be long-term
or permanent. By incorporating youth ideas and
initiatives now, we reduce the possibility that
these youths, when they become adults will
fundamentally alter initiatives and solutions we
adopt now.
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3-4. Provide support for youth-led projects.
One proposed method to involve youth is through the YouthBuild program. Because YouthBuild is a
national organization with sites in most major cities, it provides an opportunity to solicit ideas from, and
the involvement of a core group of youth nationwide. Another noteworthy example is Commencement
2000, an environmental education urban forestry project in Oakland, California initiated by the U.S.
Forest Service.
3-5. Establish mechanisms which enhance multi-generational partnerships, particularly
supporting the establishment and maintenance of youth mentoring networks-both formal and
informal.
3. ACTION ITEMS
D 3a. Designate "youth" as a formal stakeholder category for federal advisory committees and
other multi-stakeholder public participation processes.
D 3b. Support efforts to develop youth mapping and planning projects, such as Kids City in
Cleveland Ohio.
D 3c. Conduct a conference on youth concerns and needs around urban
revitalization/Brownfields.
D 3d. Work with the U.S. Department of Education to develop educational programs around
urban revitalization and Brownfields which can be used in public schools.
D 3e. Review current environmental education programs to ensure that they address
environmental justice, urban revitalization, and job training, and career development concerns.
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II. KEY ISSUE AREAS
4. Equal Protection
The Brownfields problem-the
profusion of abandoned and/or
"To the extent practical and permitted by law, and consistent
with the principles set forth in the report on the National
contaminated properties in people Performance Review, each Federal agency shall make achieving
of color, low income, indigenous environmental justice part of its mission by identifying and
peoples, and marginalized ,, . J . . ,. .. J f , ,.J,6 , ,
•i- xu * ,1 addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse
communities-cannot be separated , , ,, . , «• f. ,• •
from unequal protection in housing, h" health °r environmental effects of its programs, policies.
land use, transportation, and activities on minority populations and low-income
populations in the United States and its territories and
possessions, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, and the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands."
Executive Order 12898
February 11, 1994
educational and economic
opportunity, and other issues
related to urban deterioration.
The Brownfields issue focuses
attention on yet another important
set of equal protection issues, i.e.,
urban sprawl. Historical land use patterns placed people of color and the poor in undesirable residential
areas near industrial activity. These areas suffer a double burden as current transportation policies
promote disinvestment and place substantial indirect burdens on such communities and local
economies. Many federal investments, particularly in areas of transportation, have helped to widen
divisions in society by increasing the physical gaps that separate poor and from socioeconomic
opportunities in the increasingly distant periphery, and by economically isolating central business
districts.
In certain urban areas, urban sprawl is infringing upon nearby Tribal lands and, as such, is creating
direct burdens on environmental, social, economic, and cultural values. In other urban areas, Tribal
governments have won land claim settlements that provide for Tribal acquisition of urban lands that
have included contaminated and potentially contaminated commercial and industrial areas. It is
imperative that local jurisdictions that are located next to Tribal land pay attention to the concerns of the
Tribal governments, as well as its Tribal community members. Urban revitalization and Brownfields
programs must recognize ceded lands, fee lands, and all lands possessing historical, cultural, and
spiritual values.
Equal protection is the constitutional right of all Americans. This demands that equal opportunity be
made accessible to all people, regardless of social or economic standing. Environmental justice needs
to be distinguished from a narrow view of equal protection that stops at merely making exposure from
harmful pollutants more evenly distributed. "What is ultimately at stake in the environmental justice
debate is everyone's quality of life. The goal is equal protection, not equal pollution."21
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
4-1. Make use of Executive Order 12898 to bring about coordinated implementation by multiple
federal agencies of programs related to urban revitalization and Brownfields.
4-2. Intensify efforts for ensuring cultural diversity within the workforce of all federal agencies,
viewing this as a key foundational element to the success of initiatives such as urban
revitalization/Brownfields.
4-3. Examine use of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with respect to federal support in
areas of community reinvestment, fair housing, equal business opportunity, financing, and
health protection.
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4. ACTION ITEMS
D 4a. Intensify efforts for ensuring cultural diversity within the EPA workforce, viewing this as a
key foundational element to initiatives such as Brownfields.
D 4b. Develop analytical models of the distributional impacts of federal programs on urban
sprawl and incorporate such analyses in the National Environmental Policy Act environmental
justice guidance.
D 4c. Identify all Tribal lands that are impacted by urban sprawl and evaluate barriers against
equal protection.
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5. Public Health, Environmental Standards, and Liability
Public health and environmental
protection are matters of primary
concern to communities; they were
a recurring theme of testimony
presented at the Public Dialogues.
Public Dialogue participants pointed
out that thousands of abandoned
and contaminated sites are located
in densely populated urban areas
close to where children, teenagers,
and homeless people play and
congregate. These also are areas
for large-scale commercial and
illegal dumping of contaminated
materials. Any economic
redevelopment strategy must be
cognizant of pressing public health
issues in communities; it must not
sacrifice environmental safety for
the sake of economic growth or
prosperity.
Many Public Dialogue participants
expressed uneasiness about the
environmental and public health
ramifications of present approaches
to Brownfields redevelopment. The
Subcommittee believes that there
are enormous social costs attached
to our inability to return appropriate
properties to beneficial reuse. In
addition to the loss of economic
vitality in terms of employment,
commerce, and taxes, abandoned
properties become a magnet for
criminal and drug activity, a source
of community demoralization, and a
contributor to a downward spiral of
community decay.
The Subcommittee has ascertained
that while the prospect of quickly
returning abandoned properties to
beneficial reuse may be highly
attractive, communities are
extremely apprehensive that
attempts to streamline or speed up
the cleanup process may be at the
expense of environmental
protection and public health. These
are extremely complex issues
where decisions which may
determine the fate of communities
for generations to come. The
Subcommittee believes that any
"One of the first times I heard the notion of Brownfields was from the
environmental attorney for one of the nation's largest corporations.
She told me that she liked the idea of Brownfields because that meant
that they could build factories in communities that were already
contaminated rather than going out and threatening the Greenfields,
which were pristine. Having sat in hearings for the Defense
Department and Energy Department where they talked about relaxing
cleanup standards based on prospective reuse of the property, I think
there are a lot of people in government who have basically the same
attitude. We pollute certain areas of the country; there are certain
kinds of people that live there. Let's keep on polluting the same
areas. If Brownfields get misused as a concept, it could lead to more
of that.
"What we heard today, however, is that people in most communities
don't see it that way. They don't figure that just because they were
polluted by an oil company, a utility, or a roadway, that somehow
their families should be subjected to more. So the message we have
heard-and it has to go back to Washington loud and dear-is that you
look at a way of first cleaning up the property, and secondly,
developing industry, economic activity, or parks."
Lenny Siegel
Pacific Studies Center
Oakland, CA, Public Dialogue
"Revitalizing abandoned or underused industrial or commercial land
under a Brownfields Initiative must be based on total community
planning to change existing conditions of social inequity, racial
discrimination, and urban decay. The poor have found it
economically necessary to live in undesirable residential areas.
Historically, this included poor immigrants from Europe early in this
century, poor whites who lived on "the other side of the tracks" in
both urban and rural areas, and the majority of people of color.
Prior to automobiles and public transportation, laborers lived within
walking distance of factories where they worked.
"Building a new factory in a poorly-planned and zoned urban site will
not correct basic urban problems. Sound environmental health
planning and zoning is the only solution. Most industrial areas were
developed before cities started to address planning and zoning
concerns, and were concentrated around harbors, rivers, and rail
lines. Economic pressures still override environmental justice for the
poor. Where industrial uses (including highway systems,
incinerators, and sewage treatment plants) are located in residential
neighborhoods, steps should be taken to either relocated through land
swaps, the offending industry or the residences.
Dr. Andrew McBride
City of Stamford, CT, Department of Health
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"rush to judgement" or the adoption of a "one size fits all" solution to Brownfields assessment, cleanup,
and redevelopment, would be imprudent. More important, the Subcommittee has ascertained that there
is as yet an insufficient level of discussion about these complex issues in directly impacted
communities. Ultimately, these communities must be part of the process of shaping these policies and
practical solutions. Thus, the Subcommittee is not prepared to endorse particular solutions until directly
impacted communities have had a chance to provide visible and meaningful input to this discussion.
The Subcommittee's viewpoints on Public Health, Environmental Standards, and Liability issues can be
summarized in the following way:
Public Health: In most urban/Brownfields areas, there exists a set of characteristics which contribute to
overall poor health. For this reason, a new set of priorities is needed. For good reasons, methodologies
and technologies for characterizing environmental hazards heretofore have been built around the "worst
first model." High priority has been given by responsible parties, regulators, and communities to identity
and define the contamination that posed the greatest threat to public health or the environment, given
existing exposures and potential pathways.
For Brownfields, that priority is turned on its head. To maximize the reuse of large areas where there
exists a multiplicity of smaller sources of contamination with greatly variable degrees of severity, the
cleanup process needs to determine early on which areas are safe. Only then is it healthy and
economically viable to transfer or reuse a particular property or proceed towards an overall revitalization
strategy for the area. In order to ensure public health and a sound environment as part of both short
term and long term integrated redevelopment plans, the goal must be to ascertain not only what sites
are unsafe but what areas are safe.
The primary and most cost-effective public health strategy is prevention. In the less than perfect world
of congested, post-industrial urban/Brownfields communities, the Subcommittee believes that there
Brownfields Initiatives and Community Planning
Brownfields initiatives and community planning should include:
* Sound and equitable planning and zoning with environmental justice review
* Community involvement with participation by poor and people of color
* Air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution
* Soil contamination (lead, petroleum, heavy metals, asbestos, etc.)
* Visual pollution (billboards, poorly maintained properties, poor architecture)
* Refuse sanitation (removal of litter, refuse, adequate storage receptacles)
* Municipal sanitary sewers, public water supply
* Public transportation, adequate streets, parking, traffic flow
* Pedestrian and handicap access
* Services (stores, schools, medical, etc)
* Quality of life facilities (parks, libraries, community centers, churches, playgrounds, programs for
youths, adults and seniors)
* Landscaping (trees, mini-parks, shrubbery, flowers)
* Personal safety (police, fire, ambulance)
* Magnet facilities (parks, shopping, college, restaurants, museum, theater)
* Optimizing natural resources (waterfront, views)
* Employment for adults, youth
* Owner-occupied modest, moderate, and high-income housing
Dr. Andrew McBride
City of Stamford, CT, Department of Health
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must be a baseline understanding of public health and environment which includes consideration of (1)
characteristics of urban/Brownfields communities, (2) sources of environmental risk, (3) aggregate toxic
load, and (4) the capacity of public health community to intervene effectively. The community must be
engaged in developing this baseline understanding as well as making choices over redevelopment
strategies. Based upon such a baseline understanding, choices can be made about revitalization and
redevelopment which (1) separate people from toxics, (2) ensure environmental quality and ecological
integrity, (3) create a repository of information for regulators, health practitioners, and the community,
and (4) allow such choices to be based upon a rational, commonly understood, and mutually agreed
upon frame of reference.
Environmental Standards: Overall community goals regarding environmental quality and land use
must guide the process for developing environmental cleanup standards. This principle is crucial for
the following reason. When development-oriented corporations or local governments attempt to limit
cleanup time and expense by adopting weaker goals, they often end up allowing present contamination
to determine the land use. Thus, they limit the community's future land use because they are unable or
unwilling to carry out the cleanup.
To ensure that standards remain protective of public health, the guidelines listed below should apply to
the adaptation of soil cleanup standards based upon anticipated land use. No matter which specific law
is used to make these determinations, a fundamental principle applies: the decision should be made
by, or in consultation with, those most directly affected or likely to be affected by the contamination.
• The migration of hazards and the impact of contamination on adjacent areas should be considered.
• The potential for mixed uses, such as childcare centers in industrial or commercial areas, should be
evaluated.
• The standard could take into account the potential changes of use that might take place over the life
of the hazard. Relying upon current uses or even existing plans could lock in uses that the
community will want to change later.
• The cost and delay of determining and evaluating the impact of future use may make the strongest
standard-such as cleanup to meet a residential scenario-the most timely and cost effective.
• Land and water not cleaned up to the strongest standard should be subject to institutional controls
and/or monitoring for the life of the hazards. The cost of these controls should be considered in
evaluating the savings achieved by implementing the proposed weaker standard. The community
must be involved in the decision-making process and in providing oversight and monitoring.
Even if these guidelines are followed, communities and officials should proceed cautiously. An area that
has been blighted by contamination could be subjected to repeated pollution if the future use plan for
that area assumes that contamination-both old and new-won't result in human illness.
The Subcommittee notes that discussions are taking place to develop a more rationale approach
towards categorizing levels of severity and/or future land use in order to cut down on confusion and
unnecessary bureaucracy. While the Subcommittee urges further discussions of this nature, it believes
that they must be guided by the goal of achieving public health and be fully informed by the issues we
have presented.
Environmental Liability: Business representatives with an interest in urban revitalization have warned
that potential environmental liability is a major deterrent in Brownfields reinvestment. EPA is developing
a suite of tools for overcoming liability obstacles. The Subcommittee summarizes two major points on
this question:
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• Community representatives generally have taken no position on these tools for addressing liability
obstacles. However, they express much skepticism. They want to be sure that a responsible party
is held accountable in tangible and meaningful ways. In addition, the existence of a deterrent to
irresponsible and inappropriate practices is viewed as a necessity. The liability issue cannot be
considered in isolation. Public Dialogue witnesses gave examples of illegal dumping and other
improper and/or illegal activities in their neighborhoods. Hence, the liability issue must be
considered in relationship to the existence or lack of tangible and meaningful enforcement and
compliance activity, as well as mechanisms to ensure that health and related needs are met.
• The participants at the Public Dialogues point out that environmental liability is not the only
impediment to reinvestment in urban/Brownfields communities. In fact, environmental liability may
not rank as the most serious impediment for communities experiencing a long history of
disinvestment. These other impediments include redlining and other discriminatory practices of
lending and insurance institutions. They also include decisions to relocate industrial facilities to
other parts of the country and the world.
Community involvement must be an overarching principle guiding Brownfields Initiatives. The
community is uniquely qualified to make choices over environmental health and clean up. Community
residents have direct knowledge of the environmental problems in their communities. They should be
directly involved in the oversight of cleanup and related environmental activity and in the development
of future use plans.
However, liability can be used constructively to derive positive incentives for Brownfields revitalization,
rather than acting as a barrier to cleanup. But, release from liability must be used carefully to achieve
these ends. The Subcommittee believes that liability should only be released once a protective cleanup
has been complete, and then only with routine provisions for reopening should additional contamination
be discovered or the remedy fails. In addition, there should be a clear legal understanding of
responsibilities among former and prospective owners as to who has liability responsibility should the
land use standards be changed sometime in the future. Other parties involved in the transaction
including lenders, investors, and insurers should have clear release from liability unless they are
otherwise directly responsible for the contamination, or practices causing contamination.
It is the Subcommittee's understanding that currently only designated agencies of the Federal
government may release responsible parties from CERCLA liability, yet the parties most likely to be
involved at potential Brownfields sites will rarely receive federal attention in the cleanup of their sites
because those sites are below the levels of contamination which have prompted federal interest (such
as sites proposed or listed on the NPL). To ensure that release from liability only follows successful and
adequate cleanups, consideration should be given to delegating such liability release to the State
agency directly overseeing the site cleanup.
The Subcommittee feels strongly that cleanup standards for Brownfields must stand on their own merits,
and be based on protection needs, future land use, and the level and type of contamination present.
Cleanup standards are not dependent on liability, but liability should only be released once the
necessary cleanup standards are successfully achieved.
Finally, it is important to recall the advice of the community members during the Public Dialogues:
liability is but one of the many inhibitions to urban revitalization-we should not put undue emphasis on
the release of liability. We also need to encourage redevelopment through other incentives that will
enhance property values, such as improved transportation and housing; better public services, daycare,
schools; and improved public safety. All of these public choices require the active and direct
participation of the community in the continuing public dialogue process which is central to this report.
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SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
5-1. Involve the impacted community in clarifying the environmental risk issues associated with
urban revitalization and Brownfields, in developing a framework for understanding and
addressing the public health baseline in urban areas as part of any revitalization strategy;
support right-to-know, enforcement and compliance activity in impacted communities.
Presently, there exists a huge gap in understanding the actual environmental health challenges posed
by Brownfields-type communities. For example, communities oversaturated with environmental hazards
pose environmental risks to residents which is multiple, cumulative and synergistic in nature. This calls
into question environmental protection models which presently proceed from a substance-specific, site-
specific, and media-specific framework. In addition, EPA must provide opportunities for communities to
be involved in inspections, negotiations, and public review.
5-2. Support community desires to foster ecological restoration and incorporate sustainable
development through "green" businesses, pollution prevention, and other environmentally
sound economic development.
5-3. Support the development of, and participate in, a leadership training institute or program
for minorities and the poor.
This institute would not be a course in ecology or environmental epidemiology, but would be a course in
leadership skills development for participating in important organizations, such as local planning and
zoning boards, environmental community action groups, and environmental health agencies.
5-4. Conduct training of staff personnel about public health and use as a starting point, the
World Health Organization definitions of health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and
social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity," and of a healthy community as
one which "includes a clean, safe, high-quality environment and a sustainable ecosystem; the
provision of basic needs; an optimum level of appropriate high quality, accessible health and
sick-care services; and a diverse, vital economy."
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5. ACTION ITEMS
D 5a. Establish mechanisms which ensure a primary role for impacted communities in the
decision-making process regarding public health and environmental protection issues.
D 5b. Support several Brownfields initiatives where the key component is assessment of health
and ecological risks on a community-wide basis.
D 5c. Support and develop strategies to address liability and insurance barriers to Brownfields
redevelopment. If this requires statutory change, that change should be sought.
D 5d. Focus attention and resources on special issues such as lack of institutional infrastructure
along the US-Mexico border and on Native American reservations.
D 5e. Support efforts to identity and clarify all issues related to reinvestment in urban/Brownfields
areas, particularly the relationship between redlining, community reinvestment, and
environmental liability reform.
D 5f. Take concrete measures to address health and safety in workplaces associated with
Brownfields projects.
D 5g. Enlist appropriate federal agencies in developing a plan to ensure that public health be
integrated into all urban revitalization/Brownfields initiatives as an overarching principle.
D 5h. Conduct a series of dialogues on integration of public health and planning for purposes of
achieving true urban revitalization with healthy and sustainable Brownfields redevelopment.
D 5i. Enlist community-based organizations and national health groups such as the National
Association of City and County Health Officials, American Public Health Association, American
Lung Association, National Medical Association, Healthy Cities, Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials, and others in ensuring that strong public health approaches towards
urban revitalization/Brownfields.
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6. Job Creation, Training, and Career Development
Brownfields redevelopment must be
coordinated with broader strategies
of job creation, training, and career
development which produce
demonstrable benefits for the host
community. The startup and
nurturing of locally-based
businesses as a function of true
economic development is a critical
requirement.
"We started in our community a Water Conservation Program
with six employees. Now we have 28 employees, all [working at]
$8.00 an hour and with medical insurance... We give the low-
flush toilet to the community. We receive $25 for each toilet.
That's the way we make [our] money. We now have this project
for four years. When it started, we planned to have the program
for only six months; then it continued for another six months, and
another six months... We have help from the Water Department.
We don't need to go through other people [to] train the kids.
We have people in the organization to train these people. I think
Many participants stated that in all commmities can do something like this, start low and then
order for urban areas to survive, 6
new ways of creating and T r .
sustaining employment must be ,. , Juana umerrez
devised. They noted that if poor r^ Trl pKr°n ,8
education, lack of training, and Oakland' CA' Publlc Dial°gue
other issues which have led to the
deindustrialization of urban areas
continue to prevail, any effort at urban revitalization will not result in significant benefits to urban
communities. These witnesses strongly urged coordination between workforce development and
training programs with sustainable job opportunities. To integrate job training and employment
development, urban revitalization/Brownfields initiatives should involve integrated project planning, in
which the workforce needs of the various projects in an area are known soon enough to recruit and train
needed workers from the local population.
Two issues were particularly prominent: (1) efforts must be made to ensure workplace health and safety
for those jobs developed within the community, particularly those associated with environmental cleanup
activities; and (2) jobs must produce livable wages which fit into a career development ladder that is
based upon realistic assessment of present and emerging job markets.
The importance to the community of building community-based businesses and providing
entrepreneurial startup help and ongoing business training to individuals and companies, with emphasis
on people of color and female-owned companies within the community, was a very significant concern
at the Public Dialogues.
The need to coordinate resources available for job training and business development from among the
many Federal agencies with interests and funding sources was cited as a serious concern. At the
present time there appears to be no "one-stop shopping" for worker training assistance, nor business
development assistance. This is particularly true of the programs available from DOL, HUD, DOT,
DOE, and DoD. There are many cross currents at work with the eligibility requirements that make much
of the training assistance illusory to the very people within the community who need it most. The
definitional problems of fitting into present "displaced" worker and similar job training programs need to
be dealt with if this type of assistance is to be made meaningful to the Brownfields impacted
communities.
Coordination and cooperation among government (federal, state, tribal, and local), business/industry,
community-based organizations labor unions, faith groups, and the community-at-large is mandatory in
order to leverage resources, avoid duplication and develop mechanisms which link workforce
development and cleanup to economic redevelopment. Concentration by these parties must be on a
win/win basis. Everyone benefits if they are unified and taking actions towards a common goal, i.e., a
vibrant, safe, healthy, and sustainable community.
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SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
6-1. Make use of the momentum generated by the Brownfields issue and provide leadership in
building partnerships and coalitions which result in locally-based job creation, entrepreneurial
development, and sustainable careers.
This effort must involve all federal agencies, state, local, and tribal governments, local community
development organizations, churches, labor unions, philanthropies, universities, and the business
community. Specific efforts here could include encouraging new industry to hire locally and encouraging
the inclusion of business and industry that is capable of long-term success and growth.
6-2. Support efforts to ensure worker health and safety.
Any increase in economic redevelopment activity must have a commensurate increase in support to
protect worker health and safety for efforts to ensure worker health and safety, which means including
support for pre-training, training and apprenticeship programs focusing on workplace safety and health.
Many of these programs are now supported at local community colleges and union/management
training and apprentice programs.
6-3. Partner with other federal agencies to link clean up of federal facilities and base-conversion
activities with the needs of urban revitalization and Brownfields.
In many places, DOD and DOE facility cleanup and conversion constitute a major, if not the major,
source of economic redevelopment funding potential.
6-4. Encourage EPA and other Federal, State, local, and tribal governments to maximize the use
of recycled and reused materials; local businesses should be encouraged to set similar
procurement policies.
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6. ACTION ITEMS
D 6a. Partner with other federal agencies to link rehabilitation of low- and middle-income housing
stocks to EPA's Brownfields and urban revitalization projects. For example, EPA should link
with HUD to address issues related to asbestos and lead abatement.
D 6b. Continue to work with:
• DOL to link local private industry councils with Brownfields initiatives.
• The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to ensure that NIEHS Minority Worker
Training pilot grants-established to facilitate the development of urban minority youth worker
training programs-overlap with Brownfields pilot cities.
• Other federal agencies (such as DOL and HUD) to develop a registered apprenticeship program
called Superfund Step-Up to focus on employment opportunities for low-income and minority
youth affected by contaminated waste sites.
D 6c. Inform the community of available job- and training-related initiatives (such as Step-Up and
YouthBuild) available within EPA.
D 6d. Support efforts to provide information about technical assistance, pilot job training, and
career development programs; consider a wide variety of school-to-work and youth
apprenticeship programs that may be applicable to community development models involved in
the Brownfields programs. Examples of such programs are the technical and information
workshops for communities such as the NIEHS Technical Workshop on Environmental Job
Training for Inner City Youth at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio in 1995.
Continued support by EPA of NIEHS's Minority Worker Training Program now under pilot
operation in a number of Brownfields cities is very important.
D 6e. Continue to support, and then expand on, significant employment and training models,
particularly those that provide youth training and pre-apprenticeship opportunities such as urban
forestry and agriculture projects.
D 6f. Target labor unions and faith groups as key partners in job training because of their direct
ties to the communities and their significant training infrastructures.
D 6g. Initiate a series of job summit to define local trends and job opportunities within Brownfields
communities.
D 6h. Provide support for developing ventures in pollution prevention, materials reuse and
recycling, environmental cleanup, and related areas.
D 6i. Increase research on job market opportunities related to urban revitalization and
environmental cleanup.
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7. Land Use
Past land use decisions, many of
which are socially inequitable and
racially discriminatory, are a major
contributor to the inequitable
distribution of the burdens and
benefits of modern industrial society.
Public Dialogue participants cited
numerous accounts of the placement
of polluting industries that produce
toxic chemicals in area where people
live, work, play, and go to school.
Participants insisted that Brownfields
initiatives must examine the
relationship between past, current,
and future land use. In particular,
they were clear that decisions about
future land use must be rooted in
community-led processes. They
contrasted the community-driven
approach with corporate liability-
driven proposals which, under the
guise of a future industrial land use
designation, clean up sites to levels
inadequate to protect public health.
Such decisions, without the
participation or leadership of
community residents who have
already suffered from the prior
pollution of their neighborhood,
merely turns these communities into
sacrifice areas. The
recommendations on enhanced
community participation cited in
earlier sections of this report must
also be applied to land use policies
and decision-making.
"One baseline issue is community control over land use. The
whole process of land use, and control over zoning and
development, is really at the core of how many of our communities
got to the place that they are in now. Perhaps it is a way by
which they can work their way out of the situation... Many of our
communities—it's across the board in most low income
communities of color-are often zoned for mixed-use. So we have
industrial, commercial and residential development in the places
where we live.
AWe have a situation in New York where two incredibly different
communities exist in one local zoning area, i. e., West Harlem,
where I live, and Morningside Heights, where Columbia
University is located. West Harlem is zoned mixed-use. We have
sewage treatment plants, bus depots, chemical waste storage
centers, transportation routes (including one for hazardous
wastes). All of that criss-crosses each other every day right
through our community, and we 're surrounded by highways on
three sides. But in the Morningside Heights community, which is
the southern neighbor of our community, you cannot so much as
zone a newsstand without going through incredible land use
regulations to get any kind of land use that is not residentially
zoned.
"I sit on the local zoning board. It's become clear to me that if we
don't get involved in that process, we are never going to
understand it or perhaps, change it in a way that really respects
the interests of local communities. We have gotten a lot better at
being able to identify how issues of environmental justice, urban
revitalization, economic redevelopment, and land use are
intimately connected. You really can't think about one without the
other."
Vernice Miller
Northeast Environmental Justice Network
Boston, MA, Public Dialogue
Most citizens working on urban
revitalization issues from a
community-based perspective take it as a given that decisions about land use, and increased
community participation in land use decisions, are an integral part of urban revitalization and appropriate
Brownfields redevelopment. Few would deny that zoning practices and lending practices, such as
redlining, have a strong historical role in racial discrimination and have led to lower land values in many
economically distressed areas. It is only logical that reversing these past abuses must be a critical part
of revitalizing these areas. Further, any multi-stakeholder attempts to improve the conditions of
distressed and under-utilized areas (particularly involving state and federal policies) must not be
countered by future local land use policies that are not coordinated with the overarching urban
revitalization strategy. As noted earlier, Brownfields redevelopment must be linked to help address the
broader set of community goals and needs, including residential retention and other efforts to ensure the
long-term survivability of current communities.
Participants also expressed concerned that Brownfields proposals may become a means for justifying
levels of clean-up based upon planned future land use that are not fully protective of public health. They
were clear that the voices of residents in a polluted area should be the primary determinant of
40
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acceptable levels of clean-up. Those who claim that the community will always require the maximum
level of clean-up, ignore the fact that, far better than anyone else, the community recognizes the
dangers of losing any cleanup by demanding a full cleanup. Urban revitalization may demand
compromises, but these compromises must be supported by those who bear the burdens of incomplete
cleanup. Those who bear the burdens of incomplete clean-up must also receive direct benefits from
revitalization as opposed to only the indirect benefits of an improved tax base and jobs often filled by
non-residents who leave only their car exhaust when commuting to the newly created jobs.
Ultimately, elected officials, policy makers, and the governmental bureaucracy must recognize there is a
difference from the sometimes necessary option of limiting future land use because cleanup is not
feasible and the undesirable option of allowing the polluter to limit the level of cleanup to reduce the cost
of cleanup.
Participants repeatedly described the inadequacy of zoning and facility siting procedures to provide
comprehensive, timely, and understandable information about the impacts of new and existing facilities
on communities. Without such information, the community can have no meaningful voice in land use
decisions directly affecting their lives. Far too often, potentially polluting development is permitted
without regard to cumulative impacts on the community.
Land use planning has, and will be, a function of local government, but Federal and State governments
have an important role to play in facilitating equitable, environmentally sound land use planning.
Dialogue participants were impressed with the capacity of LandView II to combine the expertise of
Federal, State, and local governments and community member resources to track the accumulation of
pollutants. Easy access to this information empowers the community to better impact the location of
polluting sources and to seek mechanisms for pollution reduction within the community.
Several participants stressed the need to replace highly polluting sources with better operations and
technology. Others proposed strategic placement of polluting sources together where their regulatory
compliance could be monitored and their impacts separated from residential and sensitive populations.
Most participants encouraged development of "green businesses" in urban areas, and some also noted
the need for more deliberative planning for the "non-green" businesses that comprise much of current
manufacturing and development. Non-green businesses should operate in a more environmentally
protective manner and in areas with well-planned transportation and limited exposure to residents.
Finally, Dialogue participants noted the wisdom of acting now to provide small but incrementally
beneficial enhancements to land use- urban farms, nature trails, green spaces, and other conservation
projects.
Participants called for an approach to land use based upon principles of equity. They called for a
holistic examination of equity issues which looks at social justice and economic distribution issues
throughout the entire metropolitan area surrounding Brownfields.
A regional approach is essential to understanding these issues. Brownfields sites will always be in
competition with Greenfields areas for development. Regardless of improvements of the environmental
liability conditions of an urban site, issues such as public safety, decaying infrastructure, and lack of
social amenities must be addressed as well. The health of center city areas is crucial to the future
health of suburban areas. Government can play a positive role by providing opportunities for discussion
of the common interests of urban, suburban, and exurban areas. Land use planning and zoning
decisions should be rationalized with a regional perspective. While local political subdivisions may feel
they are in competition for economic development and may differ over decisions on encouraging
development in under-utilized urban areas or controlling growth in Greenfields areas, this lack of
agreement should not be allowed to undercut discussion and reasoned debate. There is a need for at
least discussion and understanding of the issues involved even if agreement or shared planning is
difficult to achieve.
Disinvestment can be driven by subsidies provided for industrial development in Greenfields areas. Our
society and government policies have a bias toward Greenfields development. These subsidies can
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take the form of government built infrastructure such as roads, water and sewerage. It can come in the
form of direct subsidies through tax abatements.
Finding common interests between urban, suburban, and exurban residents will be a key to addressing
these issues. Rural interest in retaining their small town character, suburban interest in holding back the
congestion that drove them away from the urban center, and the inner city's desire for redevelopment
can form the basis of a common interest. Though the issues of urban economic plight, suburban
congestion, and the loss of farm and wilderness lands are different problems, they each share a
common solution as an alternative to Greenfields development. Forums which explore the common
concerns and common solutions to these problems will build a broader constituency for Brownfields
initiatives.
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
7-1. Examine land use patterns of an entire metropolitan area or region surrounding
Brownfields sites.
Brownfields do not exist in a vacuum. Activities formerly in these areas often have not simply ceased to
exist, but moved to other areas. New development must choose between locating in Brownfields
communities and Greenfields areas. If the perception exists that Greenfields are the place to invest due
to various amenities there and the disamenities in urban areas, it will be difficult to attract development
regardless of what is done to enhance a Brownfields area. If government is in fact subsidizing
Greenfields development, it may become impossible to attract outside capital.
7-2. Identify natural advantages of Brownfields areas.
Industry originally was built in urban centers and Brownfields areas because of natural advantages such
as access to water, transportation, or natural features. Additional infrastructure such as sewerage,
universities, and transportation links were built around these industrial centers and often remain. In
addition, these areas often are less susceptible to natural disasters. These natural advantages must be
identified, chronicled and disseminated to improve perceptions of these areas.
If the real costs of new roads, new sewage systems, increased automobile traffic, and other financial
burdens of Greenfields development were incorporated into developer costs or not subsidized by the
government, Brownfields areas would be more competitive. The playing field between Brownfields sites
and Greenfields sites actually may be level when natural advantages of the urban core are taken into
account. The playing field may actually be fair if Greenfields development is not subsidized.
7-3. Encourage and support the involvement of non-traditional stakeholders (such as
community-based organizations) in government processes, such as zoning issues.
Government officials should be accountable for not only providing "opportunities" for public input but, in
making a good faith effort to succeed in securing public input, it is not enough to simply hold a meeting
or provide opportunities for access. Government officials must make an effort to achieve meaningful
public participation through long-term consistent interaction with community-based organizations and
institutions. Educating the public about basic decision-making processes that determine development
and zoning patterns will result in stronger democratic processes, greater public participation, and better
decision making for the public as a whole.
7-4. Encourage investment in degraded urban environments by supporting and integrating
activities to improve public safety access to health care, schools, and other social factors that
may limit investment even after cleanup.
This can take the form of linking federal grants from other agencies to Brownfields grants in
communities. Community-based groups working on broader social justice problems can be educated
and supported on environmental problems and solutions through urban redevelopment. Federal
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programs such as AmeriCorps, already focus on environment and public safety as separate areas.
How can they be joined? Programs such as the Empowerment and Enterprise zones can bring far
more resources to bear on the same communities and problems than can the Brownfields initiatives on
their own.
7-5. Explore the linkages between U.S. government international trade policies, disinvestment in
urban areas, and reinvestment in Greenfields sites.
U.S. trade policies and commitment to free trade have reduced barriers to existing U.S. companies
moving to other countries in search of cheap labor. In theory, the dropping of these barriers and the
creation of new markets for U.S. products purchased by newly hired workers will result in a new gain in
hobs and economic activity in our country. It is likely the plants that close are disproportionately older
plants located in Brownfields areas while the new U.S. plants built to serve new markets are located in
Greenfields areas. Although U.S. trade policy is designed to bring about a net benefit for the country as
a whole, it will be necessary to assess where these benefits and losses occur and steps be taken to
level the playing field.
7-6. Urge cities, states, tribal and territorial governments to review their planning and land use
review and permitting processes to address environmental justice issues, such as
environmental health, cumulative risk, and incompatible mixed land uses; offer assistance to
local governments for incorporating public participation and accountability in formulating
policies and plans and in local decision-making.
7. ACTION ITEMS
D 7a. Convene dialogues on land use planning between political subdivisions in the regions in
which Brownfields sites are located.
D 7b. Identify the real costs of Greenfields development.
D 7c. Support and encourage interaction of stakeholders from communities in urban, suburban,
and exurban areas.
D 7d. Link Brownfields with transportation infrastructure development, particularly those related to
mass transit (see experiences of this critical link in communities such as Bayview Hunters
Point in San Francisco, California; the Green Line in Chicago, Illinois; and Fruitvale,
California).
D 7e. Maximize the use of LandView II and other mapping tools to integrate landuse planning and
environmental protection.
D 7f. Dedicate resources to expanding and updating the databases used by LandView II and
other mapping tools, including:
All environmental permits under federal, state or local authorities
Criteria for identifying potential sources of pollution exempt from regulatory obligations
Hazardous waste contamination and toxic releases
D 7g. Assist communities in the compilation of their own data, including, providing advice on
tracking, preparing guidelines for organizing data, identifying common sources of lead and
asbestos, providing a means of discovering and deterring illegal dumping, among others.
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PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS
8. Community/Private Sector Partnerships
At the root of the problems
confronting urban/Brownfields
communities are massive
economic shifts that have
marked the past two decades.
Hundreds of thousands of
industrial jobs have either
disappeared or moved away
from the central city and its
neighborhoods. While some
downtown areas have
experienced revival, the jobs
created are very different than
those which once sustained
neighborhoods. For many
people in older city
neighborhoods, new
approaches to rebuilding their
lives and communities, new
openings to opportunities, are
a vital necessity.
In looking at barriers to
reinvestment and revitalization,
the Brownfields Initiative must
look at non-environmental
barriers such as high taxes,
depressed property values,
crime, congestion, redlining,
level of community services,
and racial discrimination in
lending and insurance
practices. Among these is
environmental contamination-
both past and present.
The Public Dialogues sought
to engage all institutions about
their roles in ensuring healthy
and sustainable communities.
The Subcommittee took the
position that all social
institutions-including faith
groups, labor unions,
universities, philanthropies,
business, and others-have a
responsibility to participate in a
meaningful way in achieving
urban revitalization and
building healthy and
sustainable communities.
Their participation should be
consistent with community
"Our vision is of an urban village working cooperatively to improve the
quality of life and conditions of our neighborhoods with an emphasis on
sustainable development that is economically and ecologically sound.
We seek to empower and inspire members of our neighborhoods,
especially our children and youth, to develop effective responses to the
needs of our communities and to promote cooperation, collaboration,
and partnership with social service agencies, governments, and the
private sector to create liveable communities. We seek to positively
impact the social, economic, and spiritual development of our
neighborhood and cities. A priority of our Zone is providing safe,
decent, and affordable housing. Our vision can become a reality when
our community becomes a cooperative village, an extended family that
is self-reliant, self-sufficient, and self determined.. .1 think that's one of
the most beautiful vision [statements] I have had the opportunity to
hear and take part in developing. It is the vision of the Atlanta
Empowerment Zone Community."
Sulaiman Madhi
Atlanta Summit Against Poverty
Atlanta, GA, Public Dialogue
"I heard a lot of discussion about involvement and partnership. That's
certainly the direction we have to take. But I would suggest taking it
one step farther. The community actually has to take charge. It seems
to me that if you look at the environmental justice movement, it started
with an awakening-a realization that there was a lot of pollution that
was victimizing the people living there. The second stage was kind of a
reaction stage where people said 'don't put it here; if you want to put a
new incinerator up, don't put it here—we have had enough pollution.'
Based on what I heard this morning, I suggest that it's time now for
communities to actually take charge to create a vision of what they
want for their communities, to work with their local government, to
make it competitive for somebody to invest that kind of business in that
location."
Richard Morrison
Bank of America
Oakland, CA, Public Dialogue
"My father came from the south, [where he worked] as a sharecropper.
He got a job in the auto industry, with the UAW. He did not have the
education but he had the drive. Because of that, he was able to make a
living for himself... Today, our generation does not have the same
opportunities. I have several degrees and I'm working in a voluntary
capacity. What we are seeing is a lot of frustration, a lot of frustration
and anger. These things definitely need to be addressed.
Derrick Willis
Emmanuel Community Center
Detroit, MI, Public Dialogue
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empowerment principles. This involves a commitment of real resources-human and financial-for
accomplishing the task.
Many participants commented that the Brownfields Initiative must build partnerships not only between
community and government agencies, but with other groups and institutions who can assist with urban
revitalization. These partnerships are essential to solving problems which are difficult for one entity to
address alone. The importance of forging partnerships with youth through schools and other
communities was reiterated; young people within a community who possess leadership capabilities can
be the solution to many problems. Partnerships must bring all stakeholders to the table as equal
partners.
Much distrust of corporations and the business sector exists in communities, especially in places like
South Central Los Angeles and Detroit where residents have witnessed a history of corporate
disinvestment. However, members of the business community affirmed the importance of an
empowered community and the need for forthright dialogue. This could go a long way toward bridging
the current gap between community-based planning models and a commitment from developers,
industry, and business to better understand and support use of such approaches. Matching worthy
community-driven projects with adequate financial resources is a challenge of paramount importance.
Realistically, all parties to community-based planning need to recognize that finding willing developers
and investors are key components to redeveloping Brownfields. In many cases, developers have a
particular project or proposal in mind as their reason for acquiring property and initiating the
redevelopment process. In these situations, the authors of this report urge that developers (and
regulators involved in the process) involve communities early in the planning process. Early community
participation can ensure that the design and implementation of redevelopment activities are consistent
with community goals. In other cases, communities have crafted well-defined visions for their
redevelopment and will need to find developers and investors willing to finance such redevelopment. In
these cases, regulators should use available resources to facilitate this process.
The Subcommittee is mindful of the fact that EPA's Brownfields Initiative is only a small beginning. It
provides resources only for planning, assessment, and partnership building. None of present
Brownfields Pilot Project funding goes to actual site cleanup or job training activities. This has been a
source of great consternation for the many community groups who are interested in initiating projects
around specific Brownfields sites. Nonetheless these funds have played a invaluable role in getting the
process started. There also are heartening examples of significant funds being leveraged as a result of
the Brownfields Pilot Projects.
Government agencies and societal institutions must not view communities as merely an
assortment of needs but as a collection of assets which can be built upon. Great resilience exists
in the economic, cultural, and spiritual life of America's communities. There exists many stellar
accomplishments, entrepreneurial successes, and significant victories. Efforts must be made to ensure
proper media coverage of these authentic signs of hope.
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
8-1. Support efforts to build upon community assets and increase community capacity through
information, training, and grassroots organizational development.
8-2. Support community efforts to identify and mobilize institutional resources for community
revitalization.
8-3. Support community efforts to press financial institutions to become more responsive to
their concerns, particularly through mechanisms like the Community Reinvestment Act.
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8-4. Strengthen partnerships between communities and academic institutions as part of efforts
to help communities achieve the skills necessary for self-advocacy, increase access to
information, and provide a forum for the exchange and testing of innovative ideas.
8-5. Coordinate with philanthropic groups to provide resources to community groups for
technical assistance and other needs.
8-6. Promote partnerships between local businesses and the communities where firms are
based, including use of community advisory panels.
8-7. Encourage mechanisms to bring together Chambers of Commerce, community groups, and
local planning authorities to share information about revitalization and redevelopment goals.
8-8. Encourage suburban residents to participate in, and contribute to, urban revitalization
efforts.
8-9. Invite local groups, faith groups, labor organizations, schools, philanthropies and others to
play a role in bringing together multiple stakeholders, amplifying the voice of the community,
and supporting community volunteer staff who are spread thin with a myriad of commitments.
8. ACTION ITEMS
D 8a. Institute a Brownfields small grants program (perhaps modeled after the EPA
Environmental Justice Small Grants Program) to fund local community groups for the purposes
of conducting community education, leadership development, and technical assistance.
D 8b. Convene a National Urban Brownfields Summit Meeting of all stakeholders working on, or
affected by, Brownfields projects as an opportunity to bring together all parties to discuss critical
issues, craft unified strategies, and determine actions for follow-up.
D 8c. Develop educational curriculum for schools that encourages student interest in reclaiming
their environment and other ways of developing partnerships with the local educational system-
public and private.
D 8d. Assign staff to work in local groups, universities, and local governments in partnership with
local communities.
D 8e. Support efforts to establish local-based environmental roundtables dedicated to addressing
issues of achieving healthy and sustainable communities, including environmental justice, public
health, Brownfields, land use planning, residential retention, and other issues.
D 8f. Support the establishment of a National Urban Revitalization and Brownfields Training
Institute to develop and implement training programs for achieving healthy and sustainable
communities.
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9. Local, State, Tribal, and Territorial Governments
The role of local, state, tribal, and territorial Governments in urban revitalization/ Brownfields issues is
an area of great importance. This is particularly true since the Brownfields issue ultimately revolves
around voluntary cleanup. Local, state, tribal, and territorial governments each play unique roles and
have specific needs. The Subcommittee urges that much attention be given to this area.
Local governments increasingly recognize the importance of addressing contaminated properties and
Brownfields issues. Mature urbanized areas are now faced with a second or third generation of
development. Properties must be reclaimed and reused if these cities are to remain prosperous.
Municipalities are beset with the effects of economic disinvestment job loss, and tax base depletion as
well as the negative impacts of urban sprawl and resultant vehicular traffic, congestion, air pollution, and
energy waste.
There is no doubt that all municipalities critically need to find tangible solutions to the problems
represented by urban decay and the presence of Brownfields sites. These are enormous challenges
because:
Municipalities often lack the technical expertise on the regulatory and legal details of the Brownfields
problems and require assistance in building capacity.
Municipalities often lack the means to capitalize upon and promote new opportunities for local job
creation and business development, particularly in inner city neighborhoods, through training,
technical, and financial assistance.
Municipalities often lack the capacity to identify and develop new and innovative financing
strategies.
Municipalities often lack adequate mechanisms for ensuring full participation of the community and
other stakeholders
Municipalities are themselves often beset with difficult to resolve liability problems.
In short, the vast majority of local governments lack the capacity and resources to develop effective
strategies for dealing with the multitude of Brownfields within their jurisdiction. Local governments must
be empowered to find a radically different approach to solving urban revitalization/Brownfields problems;
this entails full involvement of impacted communities, new partnerships, and adequate resources.
In the eyes of many State governments, Brownfields redevelopment is an exciting initiative because it
allows us to envision the passage of unused, polluted real estate through a sound environmental
cleanup, and culminate to a usable property which can make a difference in peoples' lives. Such a
process must, at an early stage, pass through a successful environmental cleanup in order to proceed
on to an outcome where the real value to people is achievable. If the cleanup is delayed or impaired,
the whole project would suffer. States request that it be understood that regulatory management and
oversight at any specific Brownfields site will not be provided by the federal government but by the State
voluntary cleanup program office. Because virtually no potential Brownfields sites are on the National
Priorities List, the federal government's direct involvement in actual site cleanup may be minimal. Thus,
if too few participants understand that there is a key state role to be executed at a critical early nexus of
the Brownfields process, i.e., the execution of a sound cleanup, there is danger that delays could result
from a lack of early communications with state voluntary program offices regarding coordination, early
identification of acceptable remedies, and arrangements to meet state cleanup standards and
procedures.
American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and other indigenous peoples have a unique cultural and legal
relationship to the United States that deserve special consideration. Despite federal agency mandates
to fulfill the trust responsibility to Tribes that reflect the government-to-government relationship, Tribes
have not been treated equitably compared to states. As a result, many Tribes do not have
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environmental infrastructures to stop degradation of the environment and remediate environmental
damage. These lands, which are among the most impoverished in the nation, are subjected to a broad
range of environmental problems including illegal dumping, hazardous waste disposal, surface and
groundwater contamination, air pollution, leaking underground and above ground storage tanks, military
pollution and threats, mining wastes, habitat destruction and human health risks. Inadequate funding
from the Federal government has led to many environmental problems which tribes face today.
Environmental justice with tribes must assure the right of tribes to protect, regulate and manage their
environmental resources.
In addition, there are special concerns for Native Americans who have been relocated to urban areas
and who are no longer functioning within tribal government jurisdiction. The Federal responsibility for
the well-being of these individuals is not limited to the boundaries of tribal lands. Accordingly, it is
important for EPA and other agencies with such responsibilities to assure that urban revitalization
programs provide appropriate participation and visibility for this group of community concerns.
Another area deserving of special attention are Brownfields issues in U.S. Territories. For example,
Brownfields sites may exist in significant numbers in Puerto Rico. Moreover, the Subcommittee
believes that territories are similar to American Indian Tribes in terms of their environmental
infrastructure needs.
The present Brownfields pilot projects are totally dependent on full participation of local, state, tribal, and
territorial Governments for planning and implementation activities. Under existing law EPA looks to
state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as the legal operating entity for the implementation of
Brownfields program grants. Because these entities are the receiving source of funds it is clear that
they are the principal organizations which must form the community partnerships that will enable
successful Brownfields programs to come into fruition. Moreover, as the governmental entities where
the affected communities are located, the participation of the local, state, tribal, and/or territorial
government is essential to the effective outcome of any urban revitalization/Brownfields strategy.
Unfortunately there is much evidence of lack of communications and distrust between government
organizations and communities concerned with the Brownfields programs. The Subcommittee found
during its hearings that this distrust is not in the distant past, but is a continuing barrier to EPA's effective
implementation of this program. How to bring the various community interests together with the
necessary operating government officials was a recurring theme of all the Public Dialogues, and to a
certain extent, the dominant theme at more than one of them. Since the government organizations, or
some other entity created by them will the moving force behind urban cleanup efforts, it is a serious
challenge to design a protocol that will move beyond the lack of communications and distrust into
meaningful communications and positive action by all the concerned parties.
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
9-1. Improve coordination between and among multiple levels of government (federal, state,
local, tribal, and territorial) to enable an integrated approach to Brownfields as part of overall
community revitalization efforts.
9-2. Collaborate with local, state, tribal, and territorial governments to streamline, consolidate,
and provide predictability in Brownfields regulations, while assuring full protection of public
health and the environment.
9-3. Support and develop strategies to finance local cleanup, including direct funding,
incentives, private sector investment, and innovative public financing.
9-4. Assist local governments to identify and target environmentally sound industries and
incorporate pollution prevention in Brownfields redevelopment projects.
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9-5. Work with local governments to promote community-based environmental protection.
9. ACTION ITEMS
D 9a. Support pilot projects to local, state, tribal, and territorial governments that foster and
integrate community involvement in Brownfields redevelopment and target sustainable jobs for
the local community.
D 9b. Assist communities in applying for Brownfields assistance programs to achieve early
coordination with state and local cleanup agencies who will oversee the actual cleanup at non-
NPL sites.
D 9c. Work with local, state, tribal, and territorial governments to build capacity to address
Brownfields issues, through enhanced technical assistance, staff exchanges through the
Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA), training, and pilot projects.
D 9d. Specify a requirement in federal grants and other assistance to parties engaged in
arranging site cleanups under the federal Brownfields assistance to comply with all applicable
state and local statutes and regulations in conducting that cleanup.
D 9e. Provide training environmental justice issues are considred in federally-supported programs
and grants, such as the Empowerment and Enterprise Zone programs, block grants, and
restoration of federal facilities.
D 9f. Ensure that environmental justice issues are considered in federally-supported programs
and grants, such as the Empowerment and Enterprise Zone programs, block grants, and
restoration of federal facilities.
D 9g. Develop a Brownfields grants program specifically designed to meet the special needs of
Native American Tribes and U.S. Territories.
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10. Federal Interagency Cooperation, Programmatic Integration, and Government Reinvention
The original and most enduring
proponents of government
reinvention are community
residents engaged in overcoming
systemic impediments to locally-
based solutions. A resounding
theme of the Public Dialogues was
the need for federal interagency
cooperation and coordination.
Different federal programs must be
integrated in the context of
problems defined by the
community. By definition, genuine
government reinvention cannot take
place unless it is a community-
driven process.
"I want to introduce into the record a paper recently published
on collaborative processes for community improvement. It can
easily be applied to the Brownfields question. The author speaks
to the need for articulating the role of the community as the
central initiator and guider in the process. He argues that we
have a number of interactions between federal government, local
governments, academic institutions, and communities. Many of
us do networking on a regular basis. But there is a higher level
of interacting called coordination, i.e., trying to work across
federal agencies and do some planning together. There is a next
level called cooperation, e.g., perhaps setting budget priorities
in more thoughtful and flexible ways. The paper advances the
idea of an entire level of interaction called collaborative
empowerment. This is something new; it gets to the heart of
some of the debates about environmental justice.
"The communities who are grappling with disproportionate
impacts on their environment, their health, and their future, must
be the organizations that set the goals and objectives as to what
will occur in their communities. Those of us—be it from federal
agencies, academic institutions, foundations, or otherwise-need
to interact from the position of helping to evolve those goals into
a larger empowerment and betterment mode. After the
communities have established goals and objectives, it is time for
sitting down, doing an analysis of the available pool of
resources, and how they will bring these resources to the table
in a way that elevates the contribution of the community itself.
"This paper argues that the first element of community-based
goal setting is a discussion about values... This is not often a
starting point for discussions about environmental health
research, but I do believe there are hopeful signs for the future
in this arena. The first is the [Federal] Interagency Working
Group on Environmental Justice Task Force for Model Projects.
One of the mandatory characteristic of a project is to seek
involvement of representatives from adversely impacted
populations in all phases of the projects-[from] initiation,
design, conduct, and [through] evaluation. We have not yet
implemented these mandatory characteristics in all models of our
interagency projects. But I think the principle is available for
everybody to challenge the federal government on."
Gerry Poje
National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences
Atlanta, GA, Public Dialogue
The heart and soul of an authentic
government reinvention process is
the many vibrant and coherent
community-based visions of healthy
and sustainable communities. The
Public Dialogues illustrated this fact
must be applied to issues of the
role of different federal agencies.
Communities begin with a holistic
understanding of their history,
needs, assets, and aspirations.
They see issues such as
consideredup sites, creating jobs,
ensuring decent housing, ensuring
investment and economic
development, and ending the
debilitating effect of racism as
cross-cutting and inseparable
issues. Such community-based
visions provide the compass for
public policy discourse on the role
of the federal government and
government restructuring.
There already exists many federal
policy and program initiatives which
lend themselves to viable
integrative strategies. These
include EPA's "targeted geographic
initiatives" and "community-based
environmental protection," HUD's
"empowerment zones/enterprise
communities" and "livable cities," DOT'S "livable communities," and CDC's "healthy homes, healthy
communities, and healthy peoples" concepts. Similar such policy and program initiatives exist in literally
every federal agency seriously attempting to address place-based, multi-faceted, and cross-cutting
issues such as urban revitalization and Brownfields.
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Executive Order 12898 on environmental justice presents a logical opportunity to begin that process.
For this reason, the NEJAC adopted a resolution calling upon EPA to:
"request that the development of one unified, integrated, and cross-cutting strategy to address
issues of urban revitalization and the development of healthy and sustainable communities be
made a priority agenda item for the implementation of Executive Order 12898 and the Interagency
Working Group on Environmental Justice22"
In addition, the Subcommittee sees great value in interfacing with the Federal Facility Environmental
Restoration Dialogue Committee (FFERDC). In December 1995, the Subcommittee began a formal
dialogue with members of FFERDC. We believe that the federal facilities cleanup process has
developed many lessons which apply directly to the Brownfields Initiative. There is an entire body of
protocols and knowledge about community participation environmental cleanup, and ecological
restoration issues developed as a result of this process. Moreover, there are linkages between federal
facility cleanup, urban revitalization, and Brownfields which must be tapped to achieve the full societal
benefit of these programs. We believe that similar processes should be taking place with other federal
agencies and initiatives as well.
The urban crisis-in which Brownfields issues are embedded- is systemic in nature. Efforts to resolve
any single problem are doomed to failure if they are not integrated into a multi-faceted strategy.
Government must be reinvented to address this reality. Government reinvention cannot merely be talk.
The American electorate is absolutely correct in rejecting wastefulness, inefficiency, and bureaucratic
insensitivity. However this does not mean that they are adverse to making sound investments for a
better future. They demand decision making processes which have integrity and to which they are
connected. There exists widespread anxiety about our common future and people seek authentic signs
of hope.
EPA and other federal agencies must be committed to developing a unified set of strategies which will
provide an authentic sign of hope and thus prove capable of imbuing the American people with a sense
of a new ennobling nation mission. The Subcommittee posed the following question: What is the
importance of having a coherent, unified, multi-faceted, and energizing urban revitalization strategy
which can provide an anchor for mobilization of non-governmental resources?
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS:
10-1. Develop a strategy to coalesce a unified federal strategy consisting of all relevant federal
agencies to meet the challenge of revitalizing urban America.
10-2. Ensure that leadership of all federal agencies visibly project the importance of interagency
cooperation and coordination, with a strong message about the overarching importance of
interagency coordination and cooperation. Given the cross-cutting and interrelated nature of
the urban crisis, the success of urban revitalization, Brownfields and other initiatives are
dependant for their success on the fullest possible interagency cooperation and coordination.
Given the understanding anxiety these issues cause for federal agency staff, strong leadership
must be come from the top on the need for reinventing government.
10-3. Provide opportunities for communities to systematically engage EPA and other federal
agencies in ways in which they can coordinate programs, pool resources, and tap into expertise.
10-4. Utilize Executive Order 12898 on environmental justice and the Federal Interagency
Working Group on Environmental Justice as a mechanism to build partnerships and to coalesce
a unified national strategy across all federal agencies.
10-5. Ensure programmatic integration between Brownfields and other EPA programs. Integrate
place-based approaches to environmental protection with sector-based approaches and their
implications for industrial policy.
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10-6. Establish a Working Group that specifically consists of federal agencies that have Indian
Programs and Indian mandates. This working group could be part of the Interagency Working
Group on Environmental Justice.
10-7. Recognize in all key issues and recommendations the requirements outlined in
Presidential Executive Order No. 12???, issued May 24, 1996, which promotes accommodation
of access to Native American sacred sites by Indian religious practitioners and provides
additional protection for the physical integrity of such sites.
10. ACTION ITEMS
D 10a. Compile an inventory of all federal policy and program initiatives which are relevant to
urban revitalization and Brownfields; such an inventory can serve as a road-map for
communities.
D 10b. Build a series of bi-lateral partnerships such that together they achieve a critical mass for
coalescing a unified strategy capable of tapping multiple resources and expertise; partners
should include DOT, HUD, DoD, DOE, HHS, Centers for Disease Control, NIEHS, the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, DOL, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the
National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health, the Economic Development
Administration, DOI, DOJ, DOA, and the U.S. Department of Education.
D 10c. Form partnerships to work in an interagency manner on regional and local levels,
particularly in Brownfields pilot project cities-support "one stop shopping" at the community
level for all federal agencies.
D 10d. Establish an interagency task force on urban revitalization and Brownfields
redevelopment, working through either the Interagency Working Group on Environmental
Justice (EWG) or other appropriate mechanisms.
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CONCLUSION
"The Mure of its cities may well decide America's survival not merely as a society but as
a civilization. As we look to the 21st century, what endeavor could possibly be more
eminently worthy and necessary; more obviously logical and deserving of our national
attention, expertise, and resources; or more meaningful and spiritually nourishing than
that of revitalizing America's urban areas and ensuring healthy and sustainable
communities-both urban and rural. A challenge so great as this cannot be met without
compelling visions of what constitutes healthy and sustainable communities. We have
found that such visions already exist in highly coherent and vibrant ways within many
communities across the nation."
Charles Lee
United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice
Brownfields are inseparable from environmental justice and urban revitalization. When put into proper
context, they reveal a nexus of issues which are indeed civilizational in dimension. Without just and
livable, environmentally sound, economically sustainable, spiritually and psychologically whole urban
communities, the ecological integrity of all areas in the nation-if not the world-is jeopardized. To
achieve healthy and sustainable urban communities, we cannot evade the multitude of issues raised
through the Brownfields debate.
A host of issues are associated with the systemic crisis in America's urban centers. In the fullest sense
the urban crisis is fundamentally an ecological one, rooted in among other things the racial makeup of
the structure of American cities. These issues include the untenable growth of urban sprawl, ecological
importance of the urban environment, the vexing issues of race in American society, new frontiers for
conduct of environmental science, reinventing government, the displacement of residents thorugh
gentrification of exisiting communities, building of new partnerships between, and new community-
driven visions of revitalization that properly balance economic and environmental choices.
The Subcommittee believes that these are issues we as a nation can ill afford to ignore. We saw the
Public Dialogues on "Urban Revitalization and Brownfields: Envisioning Healthy and Sustainable
Communities" as an attempt to stimulate a new and vigorous public discourse over the environmental
and economic future of America's cities. We hope that these Public Dialogues are only the beginning of
many efforts by which solutions to urban revitalization/Brownfields issues can be coalesced into a
coherent and compelling social vision.
The nation is locked within the throes of a set of transitions which are demographic, economic,
environmental, technological, social, cultural, linguistic, generational, and indeed spiritual in nature.
Urban revitalization and Brownfields offer an opportunity to shape new policy, programs, partnerships,
and pilot projects which rise to the challenge of the cross-cutting issues raised in this report. The
Subcommittee continues to pose these questions:
*• Can this process begin to set a direction capable of crystallizing a unifying and cross-cutting vision
within the federal government to serve as an anchor for the mobilization of society's resources-both
public and private?
*• Can the restoration of the physical environment in America's cities become the anchoring point for
economic, social, cultural, and spiritual renewal and thus provide the basis for embarking upon a
new and ennobling national mission?
As we confront the next century, the nation desperately needs a vision which will address issues of
racial and economic polarization, economic and ecological sustainability, full mobilization of both public
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and private sector resources, and the capacity to engage in meaningful public discourse. As many
Public Dialogue participants reiterated, "These are indeed issues of civilizational dimensions."
In order to translate the momentum, enthusiasm, and hard work already committed to this issue into
tangible and lasting benefits, EPA and other federal agencies must begin to think about a new
framework which will address the issues raised through the Public Dialogues. The hallmark of that
process must be informed and empowered community involvement. At the same time, the
Subcommittee recommends that all agencies in the federal government consider the cross-cutting
issues raised in the report and begin to shape coordinated and integrative strategies. We sincerely
thank EPA for its support of the NEJAC Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and Brownfields. We
hope that it has provided a context as well as a "road map" for moving in such a direction.
Envisioning the Next Phase of Urban Revitalization
As we look to the 21 st century, what endeavor could possibly be more eminently worthy and necessary;
more obviously logical and deserving of our national attention, expertise, and resources; or more
meaningful and spiritually nourishing than that of revitalizing America's urban areas and ensuring
healthy and sustainable communities, both urban and rural? A challenge so great as this cannot be met
with compelling visions of what constitutes healthy and sustainable communities. We have found that
such visions already exist in highly coherent and vibrant ways within many communities across the
nation.
The questions outlined above form the guiding elements for envisioning the next phase of urban
revitalization/Brownfields strategies. The NEJAC Subcommittee felt the need to identify priorities for the
next two to four years from the above recommendations. The Subcommittee recognized that the
Brownfields Initiative has achieve broad based support because it linked two critical areas, i.e.,
environmental cleanup with job creation. Over the past year, the Subcommittee has worked to stimulate
dialogue on ensuring the following issue linkages:
• Environmental cleanup with job creation
• Federal facilities cleanup and restoration with urban revitalization/Brownfields
• Urban revitalization/Brownfields with transportation, regional land use, and the Department of
Transportation's "Livable Communities" Initiative
Ensuring the long-term surviviblility of existing communities
• Urban revitalization/Brownfields, public health, and community-based planning
We believe that a maturing discussion on the above issues will take place over the next year and
provide the catalyst for a unified federal approach towards coalescing a common urban revitalization
strategy across all federal agencies. Several other priorities must take place over the next two to four
years:
• Establish an interagency urban revitalization/Brownfields task force, either through Federal
Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice or other appropriate mechanism;
• Convene a National Urban Revitalization/Brownfields Summit (this should be portrayed as a
"national revival" for the cities);
• Support the establishment of a National Urban Revitalization/Brownfields Training Institute to
develop and train in achieving healthy and sustainable communities;
• Convene a dialogue between community groups and developers/investors to achieve a common
framework for decision making and working partnerships;
• Ensure support for worker training programs and establish mechanisms for better coordination;
• Establish special grant programs in areas of technical assistance to communities, small grants for
community based advocacy and training, and a tribal and territorial Brownfields grant program; and
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• Establish new partnerships above and beyond traditional urban revitalization/Brownfields
stakeholders to include community based organizations, youth groups, faith groups, labor groups,
civil rights groups, public health groups, and philanthropic organizations.
If the Brownfields issue is nothing else, it was an opportunity for community groups to engage
government, developers, and other stakeholders around their vision of what healthy and sustainable
communities are. The stakes cannot be greater. EPA must begin to think about a new framework
which will address the issues raised through the Public Dialogues on Urban Revitalization and
Brownfields. The hallmark of that process must be informed and empowered community involvement.
Likewise, all agencies in the federal government should consider these cross-cutting issues and begin
to shape coordinated and integrative strategies.
The NEJAC Subcommittee on Waste and Facility Siting believes that a process has been started by
which environmental justice advocates and impacted communities have changed the operative
definition of the term "Brownfields." This already has translated into some significant changes in the
way in which EPA implements the Brownfields Initiative. We hope to engage a process which ultimately
will coalesce a new type of environmental and social policy capable of meeting the challenges of
revitalizing urban America and restoring ecological balance to the nation. This was our intent. Anything
less would have amounted to a failure of leadership, a breaking of faith with communities, and
acquiescence to business as usual.
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ENDNOTES
1. See OSWER Environmental Justice Action Agenda, May 1995, and OSWER Environmental
Justice Accomplishments Report.
2. Having no context within which to understand it, the term "Brownfields" was sometimes
interpreted to mean "fields where 'brown' people live." The intent of the term, as it evolved, was
to articulate a visual impact of pollution versus "Greenfields," such as forests and pastures.
Such cognitive dissonance illuminates some obvious cultural sensitivities surrounding issues of
race, urban development, and gentrification.
3. Alston, Dana (Ed.). We Speak for Ourselves: Social Justice and Environment. Washington,
DC: The Panos Institute, December 1990.
4. Infrastructure includes "living" development of knowledge base, processes and protocols
developed mutually by stakeholder groups in the process of addressing and resolving concrete
issues.
5. The Northeast/Midwest Institute, founded in 1977, is an independent, non-profit regional policy
centerthat was created as a research arm of the Northeast/Midwest Congressional Coalition, a
bipartisan group of lawmakers focusing on the environmental and economic revitalization of this
18-state region.
6. Bank of America, et.al. Beyond Sprawl: New Patterns of Growth to Fit the New California,
February 1995.
7. Bullard, Robert D., J Eugene Grigsby III and Charles Lee (Ed.) Residential Apartheid: The
American Legacy. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Afro-American Studies, 1994.
8. Gauna, Jeane. Presentation to National Advisory Committee, First National People of Color
Environmental Leadership Summit. Washington, DC, May 20, 1991.
9. For example, the field of public health began in the 1800's as a social movement to protest the
unsanitary conditions of worker communities during the Industrial Revolution.
10. Harris, Fred and Roger Wilkins (Ed.) Quiet Riots: Race and Poverty in the United States. New
York: Pantheon Books, 1988
11. Hayes-Bautista, David E., Werner O. Schink, and Jorge Chapa. The Burden of Support: Young
Latinos in an Aging Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988.; "America's
Changing Colors: What Will the U.S. Be like When Whites Are No Longer the Majority?", Time
Magazine (April 9, 1990) pp. 28-31.; United Church of Christ. "A Pronouncement on Calling the
United Church of Christ To Be A Multiracial and Multicultural Church," Adopted by the United
Church of Christ 19th General Synod (St. Louis, Missouri) July 15-20, 1993.
12. Presentation of Teresa Cordova on Community Based Planning to NEJAC Waste and Facility
Siting Subcommittee (Atlanta, Georgia, January 17, 1995).
13. Takvorian, Diane (Ed.) Toxic Free Neighborhoods Community Planning Guide. San Diego:
Environmental Health Coalition, 1993.
14. United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. Toxic Wastes and Race in the United
States: A National Report on the Racial and Socioeconomic Characteristics of Communities
Surrounding Hazardous Waste Sites. New York: United Church of Christ, 1987.
NEJAC—A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 57
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15. Matsuoka, Martha. Reintegrating the Flatlands: A Regional Framework for Military Base
Conversion in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco: Urban Habitat Program, April
1995.
16. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The New Generation of Environmental Protection: A
Summary ofEPA's Five Year Strategic Plan, July 1994.
17. Ferris, Deeohn. "A Call for Justice and Equal Environmental Protection" in Bullard, Robert D.
(Ed.) Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color. San Francisco:
Sierra Club Books, 1994.
18. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The New Generation of Environmental Protection: A
Summary ofEPA's Five Year Strategic Plan, July 1994.
19. Bullard, Robert D., quoted in Charles Lee, "Would Martin Luther King Have Become an
Environmental Justice Advocate?" U.S. Department of Justice Symposium, "A Dream Deferred:
Thirty Years After the Civil Rights Act of 1964," Washington, D.C., November 30, 1994.
20. Ecology, defined as "that which binds all things together-economically, environmentally,
socially, culturally, and spiritually."
21. Ferris, Deeohn. Percival, et.al. Environmental Regulation, Law, Science, and Policy: 1995
Supplement. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 1995, p. 1.
22. National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, Resolution on "Environmental Justice and
Urban Revitalization." Crystal City, Virginia, July 25-26, 1995.
23. Final Report of the Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee, April 1996
58 NEJAC—A Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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APPENDICES
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks go the individuals who organized the individual Public Dialogues, which took place on the
following schedule:
Roxbury Community College (June 5, 1995)
Boston, Massachusetts
Sha-King Alston, Center for Family Work and Community
46th Baptist Church (June 7, 1995)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Maurice Sampson, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Sam Spofforth, Clean Water Action
Belle Isle Nature Center (June 9, 1995)
Detroit, Michigan
Donelle Wilkins, Detroiters for Environmental Justice
Grace Boggs, Detroiters for Environmental Justice
Guy Williams, Detroiters for Environmental Justice/National Wildlife Federation
Niles Hall, Preservation Park (July 18, 1995)
Oakland, California
Martha Matsuoka, Urban Habitat Program
Romel Pascal, Urban Habitat Program
Lenny Siegel, Pacific Studies Center
Lillian Kawasaki, Department of Environment, City of Los Angeles
EnvironmentalJustice Resource Center, Clark-Atlanta University (My 20, 1995)
Atlanta, Georgia
Connie Tucker, Southern Organizing Committee for Economic & Social Justice
Sulaiman Madhi, African American Environmental Services Project
DeLane Garner, Environmental Justice Resource Center (Clark Atlanta University)
EPA staff who provided support during the public dialogues included:
EPA Region I: James Younger and John Podgurski
EPA Region III: John Armstead and Josie Matsinger
EPA Region IV: Barbara Dick and Vivian Malone-Jones
EPA Region V: Mardi Kiev and Jim Bower
EPA Region IX: Sherry Nikzat and Dianna Young
EPA Headquarters: Jan Young, former Designated Federal Official for the NEJAC Waste and
Facility Siting Subcommittee, and Katherine Dawes, EPA National
Brownfields Team
Additional support in producing this report was provided by Victoria Robinson, PRC Environmental
Management, Inc.
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Addresses for the members of the community are provided below:
Sha King Alston
Program Manager
Center for Family Work & Community
1 University Avenue
Lowell, MA 01854
Phone: 508-934-4677
Fax: 508-934-3026
Grace Boggs
Detroit Summer
3061 Field St.
Detroit, Ml 48214
Phone: 313-921-1236
Fax: 313-769-1449
DeLane Garner
Environmental Justice Resource Center
Clark Atlanta Universitry
223 James P. Brawley Drive, SW
Atlanta, GA30314
Phone: 404-880-6920
Fax: 404-880-6909
Lillian Kawasaki
Los Angeles Department of the Environment
City Hall-Mail Stop 177
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA90012
Phone: 213-580-1046
Fax: 213-580-1084
Sulaiman Madhi
African American Environmental Services
Project
233 Mitchell Street, Suite 410
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-524-0357
Fax: 404-524-5851
Martha Matsuoka
The Urban Habitat Program
P.O. Box 29908
Presidio Station
Presidio Station of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94129-9908
Phone: 415-561-3335
Fax: 415-561-3334
Romel Pascal
The Urban Habitat Program
P.O. Box29908
Presidio Station
San Francisco, CA 94129-9908
Phone: 415-561-3336
Fax: 415-561-3334
Maurice Sampson
Philadelphia Self-Reliant
129 West Gorgas Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19119
Phone: 215-686-9242
Fax: 215-686-9034
Lenny Siegel
Pacific Studies Center
222-B View Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Phone: 415-968-8918
Fax: 415-968-1126
Sam Spofforth
Clean Water Action
1128 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: 215-629-4022
Fax: 215-629-3973
Connie Tucker
Southern Organizing committee for
Economic & Social Justice
P.O. Box10518
Atlanta, GA 30310
Phone: 404-755-2855
Fax: 404-755-0575
Donele Wilkins
WARM Training Program
4835 Michigan Avenue
Detroit, Ml 48210
Phone: 313-894-1030
Fax: 313-894-1063
Guy Williams
Environmental Defense Fund
1616 P Street, NW
Suite 150
Washington, D.C. 20036
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MEMBERS OF THE
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL
1995-96 List (25 Members)
Designated Federal Official (DFO)
Dr. Clarice Gaylord
Director
Office of Environmental Justice (3103)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 260-6357
Dr. Robert Bullard
Environmental Justice Resource Center
Clark Atlanta University
223 Brawley Drive, SW
Atlanta, GA 30314
Dr. Mary R. English
Associate Director
Waste Management Research and Education
Institute
327 South Stadium Hall
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996
Dr. Richard Lazarus
Visiting Professor
Georgetown Unversity Law Center
600 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Dr. Beverly Wright
Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
Xavier University
8131 Aberdeen Road
New Orleans, LA 70126
Mr. John C. Borum
Vice President, Environment and Safety
Engineering
AT&T
131 Morristown Road
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
Mr. Charles McDermott
Director of Governmental Affairs
Waste Management, Inc.
1155 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
Chair
Mr. Richard Moore
Southwest Network for Environmental and
Economic Justice
211 10th Street, SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
(505)242-0416
Mr. Lawrence G. Hurst
Director, Communications
Motorola, Inc.
Mail Drop R 3125
8220 East Roosevelt
Scottsdale, AZ 85257
Mr. Michael Pierle
Monsanto
800 North Lindburgh Street
St. Louis, MO 63167
Ms. Dolores Herrera
Executive Director
Albuquerque/San Jose Community Awareness
Council, Inc.
2401 Broadway Boulevard, SE
Albuquerque, NM 87102-5009
Ms. Hazel Johnson
Executive Director
People for Community Recovery
13116 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60627
Dr. Jean Sindab
National Council of Churches
475 Riverside Drive, Room 572
New York, NY 10115-0050
Mr. Charles Lee
Director of Research
United Church of Christ Commission for
Racial Justice
475 Riverside Drive, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10015
64
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Mr. John O'Leary, Esq.
Pierce Atwood
1 Monument Square
Portland, ME 04101
Mr. Baldemar Velasquez
Director
Farm Labor Organizing Committee
507 South St. Clair Street
Toledo, OH 43602
Mr. Haywood Turrentine
Laborers-AGC Education and Training Fund
P.O. Box 37
37 Deerfield Road
Pomfret Center, CT 06259
Honorable Salomon Rondon-Tollens
President, Natural Resources and
Environmental Quality Commission
Capitolio San Juan, PR 00901
Ms. Velma Veloria
House of Representatives
Washington State Legislature
403 John L. O'Brien Building
P.O. Box40622
Olympia, WA 98504-0622
OR 1511 South Ferdinand Street
Seattle, WA 98108
Mr. Arthur Ray, Esq.
Deputy Director
Maryland Department of the Environment
2500 Broening Highway
Baltimore, MD 21224
Ms. Gail Small
Executive Director
Native Action
Box 316
Lame Deer, MT 59043
Ms. Jean Gamache, Esq.
Tlignit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
125 Christensen Drive
P.O. Box104432
Anchorage, AK 99510
Mr. Walter Bresette
Lake Superior Chippewa
Route 1, 6ox 117
6ayfield,WI 54814
Ms. Peggy Saika
Asian Pacific Environment Network
3126 California Street
Oakland, CA 94602
Ms. Nathalie Walker
Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund
400 Magazine Street, Suite 401
New Orleans, LA 70130
Ms. Deeohn Ferris
Washington Office for Environmental
Justice
1511 K Street, NW, Suite 1026
Washington, DC 20005
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MEMBERS OF THE
WASTE AND FACILITY SITING SUBCOMMITTEE
NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COUNCIL
1995-96 List (15 Members)
Designated Federal Official (DFO)
Mr. Kent Benjamin
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW(MC 5101)
Washington, DC 20460
(202)260-1692
e-mail: benjamin.kent@epamail.epa.gov
Chair
Charles Lee
Director of Research
United Church of Christ Commission for Racial
Justice
475 Riverside Drive, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10015
(212)870-2077
e-mail: 103001.2273@compuserve.com
Ms. Sue Briggum
WMX Technologies, Inc.
1155 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
Ms. Teresa Cordova, PhD
University of New Mexico
Community and Regional Planning Program
School of Architecture and Planning
2414 Central Avenue, SE
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Mr. Donald Elisburg
Donald Elisburg Law Offices
11713 Rosalinda Drive
Potomac, MD 20854-3531
Mr. Tom Goldtooth
Red Band of Chippewa Indians
P.O. Box 485
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Mr. Michael Guerrero
SW Organizing Project
211 10th Street, SW
Bemjidi, MN 56601
Mr. David Hahn-Baker
Inside Out, Inc.
440 Lincoln Parkway
Buffalo, NY 14216
Ms. Lillian Kawasaki
Los Angeles Department of the Environment
City Hall-Mail Stop 177
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Mr. Tom Kennedy
Association of State and Territorial Solid
Waste Management Officials
444 North Capitol Street, Suite 388
Washington, DC 20001
Mr. Scott Kayla Morrison
President
Choctaws for Democracy
P. O.Box11
Talinia, OK 74571
Mr. Jon Sesso
Planning Director
Silverbow Mt. Planning Committee
155 West Granite Street
Butte, MT 59701
Mr. Lenny Siegel
Pacific Studies Center
222-B View Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Dr. Jean Sindab
Director
National Council of Churches
475 Riverside Drive, Room 572
New York, NY 10115-0050
Ms. Connie Tucker
Southern Organizing Committee
P.O. Box10518
Atlanta, GA 30310
Ms. Nathalie Walker
Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund
400 Magazine Street, Suite 401
New Orleans, LA 70130
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LIST OF EPA BROWNFIELDS PILOT SITES
Through November 1996
"Economic development and environmental
protection must go hand-in-hand"
National Pilots
Baltimore, MD
Birmingham, AL
Bridgeport, CT
Burlington, VT
Cape Charles-Northampton County, VA
Charlotte, NC
Chicopee, MA
Chippewa County/Kinross Township, Ml
Cleveland, OH
Detroit, Ml
Emeryville, CA
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Kansas City, KS and MO
Knoxville, TN
Laredo, TX
Lawrence, MA
Lima, OH
Louisville, KY
Lowell, MA
Navajo Nation
Newark, NJ
New Orleans, LA
New York, NY
Oregon Mill Sites, OR
Phoenixville, PA
Portland, OR
Rhode Island
Richmond, CA
Richmond, VA
Rochester, NY
Rome, NY
Sacramento, CA
St. Louis, MO
Stockton, CA
Tacoma, WA
Trenton, NJ
West Central Municipal Conference, IL
Worcester, MA
Regional Pilots
Atlanta, GA
Bellingham, WA
Bonne Terre, MO
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Camden, NJ
Cincinnati, OH
Clearwater, FL
Concord, NH
Dallas, TX
Downriver Community Conference, Ml
Duwamish, WA
East St. Louis, IL
State of Illinois
State of Indiana
Kalamazoo, Ml
Miami, FL
State of Minnesota
Murray City, UT
Naugatuck Valley, CT
New Haven, CT
Northwest Indiana Cities
Oakland, CA
Panhandle Health District, ID
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, ME
Prichard, AL
Provo, UT
Puyallup Tribe of Tacoma, WA
Salt Lake City, UT
Sand Creek Corridor, CO
San Francisco, CA
Shreveport, LA
Sioux Falls, SD
Somerville, MA
WestJordon, UT
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KEY EPA ACTIONS TO DATE
This is a list of the several key actions EPA has undertaken related to the Brownfields Initiative.
Informed and Empowered Community
Community Involvement in Brownfields pilot projects
6/95 Initiated the "community involvement check-up," as an ongoing part of the Brownfields national
pilot application process to confirm the participation of the local community organizations and
representatives. (This was in response to recommendations made at the Philadelphia Public
Dialogue.)
8/95 Developed a Response to the NEJAC "Resolution on Environmental Justice and Urban
Revitalization" for review by the Federal Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Environmental
Justice.
9/95 Integrated comments from NEJAC subcommittee members in the revised version of the
"Application Guidelines" booklet for the Brownfields national pilots.
2/96 Sponsored the "Brownfields Pilots National Workshop" which used the NEJAC working draft
Public Dialogue report to develop the breakout sessions' agendas. EPA sponsored the
participation of community representatives from Oakland, CA; Detroit, Ml; and Boston, MA.
Job Creation, Training, and Career Development
Training Programs (Teacher s Institute, Rio Hondo, HMTRI, NIEHS, Superfund Step-Up, Cuyahoga
Community College, Department of Labor)
TEACHER'S INSTITUTE
6/95 Conducted the third EPA-Morgan State University Summer Environmental Teachers Institute, in
Baltimore, Maryland (40 teachers from across the country attended).
1/96 Awarded a cooperative agreement to Morgan State University to sponsor the fourth Summer
Environmental Teachers Institute, scheduled for July 7-19 in Baltimore, Maryland.
RIO HONDO COLLEGE
8/95 Established the Rio Hondo College Environmental Education and Training Center in Whitter,
California. The college began work on this project in March, 1995, through a cooperative
agreement with EPA, to provide environmental job training and placement for local residents
and has an 85% minority enrollment.
HMTRI Continued to sponsor job training and development and community outreach activities linked to
the Brownfields Initiative, by working with the Hazardous Materials Training and Research
Institute (HMTRI) to expand training and curriculum development to community colleges located
near brownfields pilots.
11/95 Sponsored a HMTRI workshop in Baltimore, Maryland which was attended by 17 community
colleges located near Brownfields pilot sites.
2/96 Invited HMTRI to participate in the Brownfields Pilots National Workshop Showcase in order to
conduct outreach to EPA brownfields pilots and other stakeholders.
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3/96 Awarded a cooperative agreement to HMTRI to continue providing workshops, curriculum and
technical assistance to community colleges located near brownfields communities.
7/96 HMTRI workshop to be held in St. Louis, MO. Twenty brownfields community colleges are
scheduled to attend, along with representatives form the St. Louis Brownfields pilots, the St.
Louis Private Industry Council, and organized labor.
NIEHS EPA is working with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to ensure
the minority worker training grants - established to facilitate the development of urban minority
youth worker training programs - overlap with Brownfields pilot communities (e.g., Cleveland,
New Orleans).
CUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
EPA continues to sponsor job training, education and outreach activities related to Brownfields
at Cuyahoga Community College (TRI-C) in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition, TRI-C was awarded a
NIEHS Minority Worker Training Program grant, through Laborers AGC, which should enhance
job training activity in the Cleveland area.
SUPERFUND STEP-UP
The Superfund Step-Up Program is designed as a partnership between EPA, HUD, and DOL to
collaborate in facilitating training and employment opportunities for community residents in the
environmental cleanup field. The program is designed to encourage contractors, labor
organizations, where applicable, and other sponsors to involve community residents in the
benefits of environmental cleanup and related activities.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
EPA and DOL's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) are working together to link
EPA local brownfields contacts with local Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) funded
organizations, such as Private Industry Councils. The partnership between the two agencies
focuses on creating mechanisms to promote local hiring at brownfields sites.
Community/Private Sector Partnerships
EPA Intergovernmental Personnel Assignments
EPA has assigned eight staff members, though IPAs, to help develop State and local
Brownfields programs. Currently, two staff members are assigned with the States of Illinois and
Colorado, and one each to Dallas, TX; Detroit, Ml; East Chicago, IN; East Palo Alto, CA; and
Los Angeles, CA.
State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Governments
Partnerships with Local Government Partners
International City/County Management Association (ICMA)
ICMA is an international professional and education organization for appointed administrators
and assistant administrators who serve cities, counties, district, and regions. ICMA recently
entered into a cooperative agreement with EPA to develop a CD ROM resource for
municipalities involved in Brownfields cleanup and redevelopment activities.
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Northeast-Midwest Institute
The Northeast-Midwest Institute is a non-profit research and public education organization
dedicated to the long-term economic vitality of the Northeastern and Midwestern States. They
do research, develop public policies to address the economic barriers to Brownfields, write case
studies, sponsor regional conferences and distribute publications. They wrote the first
comprehensive analysis of the Brownfields issue in 1991 and are working with EPA on a
cooperative agreement to develop case studies on current Brownfields pilots and previous
Brownfields activities captured in one of their earlier reports. Results will be communicated
through constituent education briefings held in the east, Midwest and western regions of the US,
sponsored by Members of Congress.
Federal Interagency Cooperation, etc.
Joint Research with the Department of Housing and Urban Development
EPA and HUD are funding a joint cooperative agreement to research the effect contamination
has on property values
Memorandum of Understanding's with Federal Partners
Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Singed a MOU with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to partner on
the Superfund Step-Up apprenticeship training program for economically disadvantaged
persons living in the vicinity of Superfund Sites.
Economic Development Administration (EDA)
EPA signed a MOU with EDA of the Department of Commerce to consult on economic
redevelopment and reuse of Brownfields to ensure that sound environmental and economic
development principles are followed, and to share knowledge and serve on advisory groups
regarding Brownfields projects.
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
Anticipate signing of a memorandum of understanding in the Summer of 1996 with the
Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) which will foster
coordination on workforce development activities related to the Brownfields program.
Expect to finalize MOU with the Department of Labor's Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training
(BAT) on the Superfund Step-Up Apprenticeship Training Program during the Summer of 1996.
U.S. Department of the Interior
EPA is working on development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Rivers
and Trails Assistance Office of the Department of Interior (under the U.S. Park Service). The
MOU will encourage effective collaboration at Brownfields Pilots and long term sustainability at
these sites by testing community driven non-profit approaches such as those used by the
Groundwork Trust of England, numerous Redevelopment Authorities and other Community
Development Corporations. DOI's contributions include urban beautification activities,
enhancement of amenities such as green spaces, public places, parks and trails, and
remediation/revitalization/redevelopment activities underway through the Brownfields pilots and
other locations.
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