U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
/ClZ>\ LAND REVITALIZATION
7 restoring land for America's communities
"EPA's cleanup programs have set a
national goal for returning formerly
contaminated sites to long-term,
sustainable, and productive uses."
2003-2008 EPA Strategic Plan — Direction for the Future
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"We are empowering fteoftfe to work, to aether to
revitalize and rehabilitate their communities.9
Steve Johnson, EPA Administrator
August 14, 2006
Land Revitalization Initiative
As part of its mission to protect human health and
the environment, EPA is undertaking an Agency-wide
initiative to revitalize land. To restore contaminated
properties to economic and environmental vitality,
EPAs land cleanup programs have set a national goal
for returning formerly contaminated sites to long-term,
sustainable, and productive uses. Working closely
Why Land Revitalization?
As a nation, we value land as a natural, cultural, and economic resource. Over time, hundreds of
thousands of properties and millions of acres across the country have been damaged by minor to
moderate to extreme pollution and distressed, dilapidated conditions. For more than a decade, a
movement has grown across the country to restore and reclaim these properties for community,
economic, and ecologic uses. In many places, government, private, and non-profit organizations are
working with each other to assess, restore and return these unproductive properties to sustainable and
beneficial uses that are protective of health and the environment. Neighborhood parks, residential and
commercial developments, manufacturing facilities, and restored natural environments exist around the
country because of revitalization partnerships. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties also
takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land. The days of erecting chain link fences
around a property and posting "Keep Out" signs around valuable land resources wane, and we believe
the momentum around cleanup and sustainable land reuse will continue to grow.
with States, Tribes, and local governments, we are
building partnerships with communities, private, and
non-government stakeholders to promote voluntary
cleanups and revitalization, including urban river
restoration that revitalizes land and water resources and
"Good Samaritan" voluntary cleanups of abandoned
mines and other sites. At cleanup sites that require
the involvement of multiple government programs, we
apply One Cleanup Program approaches to improve
consistency, management, and cost-effectiveness.
Working with others, our goal is to restore our nation's
contaminated land resources and enable communities
to safely return these properties to beneficial and
sustainable economic, ecological, and societal uses.
UNDERGROUND
GE TANKS
FEDERAL
FACILITIES
SUPERFUND
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Brownfields Cleanup
and Redevelopment
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states,
communities, and other stakeholders in
economic redevelopment to work together to
prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably
reuse brownfields. The Brownfields Program
provides technical and financial assistance,
including grants for environmental assessment,
cleanup, and job training.
Federal Facilities
The Federal Facilities Restoration
and Reuse Program works with
other Federal and state agencies to
facilitate the cleanup and reuse of the
nation's Superfund Federal facilities,
including Base Realignment and
Closure (BRAC) sites.
Underground
Storage Tanks
The Underground Storage Tanks
Program supports States, territories,
and other partners in the cleanup and
reuse of properties contaminated
by petroleum releases from
underground storage tanks and
works to better integrate eligible
petroleum brownfields into ongoing
restoration/revitalization activities.
IR1IM '
.. . - -
RCRA Corrective Action
The Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action
Program requires the investigation
and cleanup of hazardous releases at
operating facilities. RCRA Corrective
Action differs from Superfund in that
Corrective Action facilities generally
have viable operators and on-going
operations.
Superfund
The Superfund Program manages cleanups
of the nation's uncontrolled hazardous
waste sites that pose a current or future
threat to human health or the environment.
EPA's Superfund Redevelopment Program
encourages communities at every cleanup
site to consider anticipated future reuses
early so that cleanups can accommodate
those uses, while maintaining standards that
protect human health and the environment.
www. epa.gov/brownfields/
www.epa.gov/fedfac/
www.epa.gov/swerust1/
www.epa.gov/swerosps/rcrabf/
www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/recycle/
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EPAAs Land Revitalization Staff
The Land Revitalization Staff works with EPA programs, other government agencies, and non-government partners to promote and
develop land revitalization measures, tools, and information. The land revitalization vision is to restore the nation's contaminated
land resources and enable communities to safely return these properties to beneficial economic, ecological, and societal uses.
One Cleanup Program
Approaches
The One Cleanup Program is
EPAs vision for how different
cleanup programs at all levels of
government can work together to
ensure that resources, activities,
and results are effectively
coordinated, implemented, and
communicated to the public. EPA
cleanup programs coordinate with
one another to remove unintended
barriers, develop common
measures, and improve the quality
and availability of information
so that contaminated land can
be revitalized and returned to
protective and beneficial uses.
Measures and Benefits
The Land Revitalization Outcomes
and Benefits Workgroup is
developing measures to enable
EPA to better understand and
communicate land revitalization
accomplishments and inform
future decision-making, priorities,
and roles.
Training and Information
The Land Revitalization Staff offers
training to EPA, State, Tribal and
local governments on reuse of
contaminated properties in private
real estate markets and in natural
ecological systems.
Coordination
Facilitating the exchange of
information and coordination of
action across cleanup programs
can lead to faster, more efficient
cleanups that are protective
of future uses of previously
contaminated sites. The Land
Revitalization Staff, Coordinators,
and partners are working together
to better integrate program
implementation.
Unintended Barriers
EPA is addressing unintended
barriers to the appropriate reuse of
land. The Long Term Stewardship
Task Force has developed
recommendations to ensure that
site cleanups remain protective
over time and the Agency is
working to improve program
activities related to groundwater
protection and site assessment.
Sustainable Reuse
Sustainable land reuse
and prevention of future
recontamination is central to
the land revitalization vision.
EPA land revitalization staff
are advancing best practices to
manage stormwater on sites,
protect watersheds, restore native
ecological systems, erect greener
buildings, and support healthy,
vibrant communities.
Partnerships
To be effective, land revitalization
requires collaboration among
many stakeholders. The Land
Revitalization Staff is working
with all levels of government,
community and watershed groups,
and the private sector to clean up
and appropriately reuse land.
HQ — www.epa.gov/landrevitalization/
Region 1 (CT, ME, MA, NH, Rl, VT) — www.epa.gov/region1/
Region 2 (NJ, NY, PR, VI) — www.epa.gov/region2/
Region 3 (DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV) — www.epa.gov/region03/revitalization/
Region 4 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC.TN) — www.epa.gov/region04/waste/
Region 5 (IL, IN, Ml, MN, OH.WI) — www.epa.gov/region5/
Region 6 (AR, LA, NM, OK,TX) — www.epa.gov/region6/
Region 7 (IA, KS, MO, NE) — www.epa.gov/region7/
Region 8 (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT.WY) — www.epa.gov/Region8/lancLwaste/revitalization/
Region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, NV) — www.epa.gov/region9/
Region 10 (AK, ID, OR, WA) — www.epa.gov/region10/
Land Revitalization Staff
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
Mail Code 5101T
EPA-500-F-06-003
October 2006
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