State Innovation Grant Program: Georgia
Georgia Department of Natural Resources: Exploring the Role of an Environmental
Management System (EMS) in Brownfield Redevelopment (2006 Competition)
The State Innovation Grant Progi
In 2002 EPA introduced the State Innovation Grant Program to supp
efforts led by state environmental agencies to test innovative approaches
for achieving better environmental results and improved efficiency in
permitting programs. Between 2002 and 2007, the State Innovation Grant
program competition awarded over six million dollars to support 35 state
projects that test permitting innovation for a variety of regulated entities
including several small business sectors. Asummary of the awards by year
appears in the table below.
State Innovation Grant Program Statistics, 2002-2007
Competition Proposals Proposals Total Program
Year Submitted Selected Funding ($)
2002/2003
$618,000
$1.425 Million
$1.479 Million
$1.243 Million
$1.611 Million
$0.825 Million
Cumulative
$7.201 Million
"Innovation in Permitting" has been the theme of the State Innovation Grant
competition since its inception. In the last three competition cycles states
received awards for projects in the following three categories:
• The Environmental Results Program (ERP) is an innovative
approach to improving environmental performance based on a system
of the interlocking tools of compliance assistance, self-certification
(sometimes, where permissible, in lieu of permitting), and
statistically-based measurement to gauge the performance of an entire
business sector. The program utilizes a multimedia approach to
encourage small sources to achieve environmental compliance and
pollution prevention. (See: http://www.epa.gov/permits/erp/)
• Environmental Management System (EMS) is a system involving a
continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing and improving the
processes and actions that an organization undertakes to meet its
business and environmental goals. EMSs provide organizations of all
types with a structured system and approach for managing
environmental and regulatory responsibilities to improve overall
environmental performance and stewardship.
(See: www.epa.gov/ems/info/index.htm)
• Performance Track is a partnership that recognizes top
environmental performance among participating US facilities of all types,
sizes, and complexity, both public and private.
(See: http://www.epa.gov/performancetrack/)
NCEI has provided awards also for projects testing watershed-based
permitting, and for permit process streamlining in past competitions. For
more information on the history of the programs, including information on
solicitations, state proposals, and project awards, please see the EPA State
ittD://www.eDa.aov/innovation/statear
Project Background:
As part of EPA's initiative to reuse and revitalize contaminated
property, the Brownfields Program provides funds and technical
assistance to states and communities working on economic
redevelopment to promote partnership for assessment, safe
clean-up, and sustainable reuse of brownfields. The Georgia
Brownfields Program began in 2004 and following years of
extensive outreach by EPA and the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources (GA DNR), Georgia's local governments and
developers are now making significant progress in cleaning and
redeveloping contaminated properties, and returning them to
economically beneficial use.
These redevelopment projects succeed in reducing the
presence of contaminants in communities where there are
abandoned industrial sites while returning properties to productive
use. Generally, however, Brownfields redevelopments aim for
minimum regulatory compliance measures and largely do not
take advantage of significant opportunities for integrating
sustainable building practices, technologies and operational
practices into the new life of each property. Under current
permitting processes and practices developers have little
incentive to consider the long term positive environmental
impacts of development which creates a disconnection between
most project developers' approaches and the longer-term goals
of future operators of the property.
Project Description
The GA DNR project is testing the application of Environmental
Management Systems in the redevelopment and operation of a
Brownfield site. The pilot project is examining how the application
of an EMS can provide a process of continual improvement and
better environmental performance in the redevelopment of the
former Ford Manufacturing Company, HapevilleAssembly Plant.
The GA DNR's Environmental Protection Division (EPD) and
Pollution Prevention Assistance Division (P2AD), is working in
partnership with a private developer, Jacoby Development
Corporation, to create a replicable model of brownfield
redevelopment using EMS to achieve better environmental
performance in the redevelopment and later operation of the site
which will become a mixed-use development. The project will
also foster increased public participation in the redevelopment
decision processes.
Jacoby Development Corporation, a leader in sustainable
commercial development, is a partner with GA DNR in exploring
NCEI
NATIONAL CENTER FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION
-------
a nextwave of environmental innovation in its redevelopment of the
Ford Hapeville Site. Jacoby Development has a previous track
record as a successful innovator in the sustainable redevelopment
of industrial sites: playing a key role, Jacoby Development teamed
up with the State of Georgia, the City of Atlanta, dozens of local
stakeholders, and the US EPA in a Project excellence in
Leadership (Project XL) environmental innovation pilot project that
produced a multi-billion dollar, 135-acre redevelopment—formerly
Atlantic Steel Industries— that turned a large brownfield site into a
vibrant model for smart growth practices (http://www.epa.gov/
projectxl/atlantic/index.htm). P2AD brings team expertise in EMS,
and a framework to assist Jacoby in developing an EMS for the
Ford Plant redevelopment.
The project is being coordinated through the Partnership for a
Sustainable Georgia, an environmental performance-based
leadership program operated by P2AD. The program is modeled
on EPA's National Environmental Performance Track (NEPT) and
currently has 160 Partners participating in four program levels:
Champion (advocate), Bronze (on-ramp), Silver (roughly NEPT
equivalent), and Gold (NEPT plus). By entering the former Ford
Hapeville site into the Partnership for a Sustainable Georgia as a
Bronze Level Partner, Jacoby is tapping into an existing framework
for EMS technical assistance and training, and sharing of best
practices with other members of the Partnership. Collaboration with
stakeholders representing a variety of public interests including
industry, regulators and the community will result in a more
systems-based approach to achieving better environmental results.
This project will test the application of EMS in the redevelopment of
the property and as a framework for facility operations after
development. The project will provide two tangible sets of materials
that will lay out a clear, tested, documented process for other
developers to follow to integrate EMS into redevelopment of
brownfields sites. The first set of materials will be EMS
documentation for the redevelopment, and the second will be a
guidance manual for developers that will lead them through the
creation of an EMS for a brownfield redevelopment project. These
materials will provide a template for developers to evaluate green
approaches that are appropriate for their redevelopment sites.
Connection to EPA's Goals
The EMS model to be developed in this project will address the
opportunities identified in EPA's draft of Sustainable Land
Revitalization model. Successful completion of this projectwould
support EPA's Strategic Goal #3 which focuses on land
preservation and restoration. This project also contributes to EPA's
Strategic Goal #5, focused on compliance and environmental
stewardship, by promoting an approach that exceeds minimum
compliance for redevelopment programs.
Project Contacts:
For more specific information on the Georgia State
Innovation Grant, please contact one of the individuals
below:
Suzanne Burnes, Assistant Director
Pollution Prevention Assistance Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
7 Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive, Suite 450
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 657 5686 FAX: (404) 651 5130
Suzanne_Burnes@dnr.state.ga.us
Mark Smith, Branch Chief
Hazardous Waste Management Branch
Environmental Protection Division
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
2 Martin Luther King Jr., Drive, Suite 1154, East Tower
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 463 8509 FAX: (404) 651 9425
Mark_Smith@dnr.state.ga.us
Latoya Miller
US Environmental Protection Agency- Region 4
61 Forsyth Street, S.W.
Atlanta, GA 30303-8960
(404) 562 9885
miller.latoya@epa.gov
Lisa Comer
US Environmental Protection Agency
National Center for Environmental Innovation
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW(MC 1807T)
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 566 2206
comer.lisa@epa.gov
Program Contact:
Sherri Walker
State Innovation Grant Program
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20460 (MC1807T)
(202)-566-2186; FAX (202) 566-2220
walker.sherri@epa.gov
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Policy,
Economics and Innovation
(1807T)
October 2008
EPA-100-F-08-072
------- |