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

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  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

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