Brownfields
              Public Health  an
 ealtn monitoring
Purpose of this Document

The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act ("Brownfields Law", P.O. 107-
118) provides new opportunities to consider the
health impacts of brownfields. This fact sheet has
been developed for brownfields staff, grantees, and
stakeholders to assist them as they provide outreach and
technical assistance to brownfield communities. This fact
sheet is structured to:
    •   summarize health provisions of the
       Brownfields law;
    •   define health monitoring as a public health
       practice; and,
    •   identify tools and organizations that can support
       health monitoring in brownfields communities.

Brownfields and Public Health

The Brownfields law defines brownfields as "real
property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of
which may be complicated by the presence or potential
presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or
contaminant."

It is estimated that there are more than 450,000
brownfields in the U.S.  Communities may focus on
environmental impacts of brownfields but they may also
wish to consider the broader public health impacts of
brownfields, including:
        The Pitt Salvage Yard in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
      Brownfields Redevelopment: Enhancing
    Community Wealth and Community Health
                                   Brownfields
                                   Long-Term
                                  Management
                                  & Stewardship
      CREATING COMMUNITY WEALTH THROUGH COMMUNITY HEALTH
                Protecting Public
                 Health & Safety
       Safety - abandoned and derelict structures,
       open foundations, other infrastructure or
       equipment that may be compromised due to
       lack of maintenance, vandalism or deterioration,
       controlled substance contaminated sites (i.e.,
       methamphetamine labs) and abandoned
       mine sites;
    •   Social & Economic - blight, crime and
       vagrancy, reduced social capital or community
       'connectedness', reductions in the local
       government tax base and private property values
       that may reduce social services; and,
    •   Environmental - biological, physical and
       chemical from site contamination, groundwater
       impacts, surface runoff or migration of
       contaminants as well as wastes dumped on site.

Cleaning up brownfields properties can improve public
health in a number of ways, including addressing
safety or environmental concerns at the site. It may
also provide an opportunity for communities to create
safer, healthier communities through the redevelopment
process and use of smart growth principles.
Redevelopment focused on improving public health
may increase recreational or green space creation to
encourage physical activity, community gardens and
restful public spaces that encourage interaction while
also reducing the effects of heat islands and improving
storm water management. Adding accessible and
affordable grocery stores as well as pharmacies or
other health care facilities offers amenities important
to meet community needs as part of healthier
redevelopment and reuse as well as job opportunities
for community residents.

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The Brownfields Law
and Health Monitoring

The Brownfields Law expanded the types of government
and non-governmental organizations eligible for grant
funding, the types of sites eligible for funding and the
resources available to promote sustainable brownfields
cleanup and reuse. It creates a new focus on the
impacts of brownfields, particularly in disadvantaged
communities and among sensitive populations. The
law allows a local government to spend up to 10% of a
brownfields  grant for:

    "(i) monitoring the health of populations exposed to
    one or more hazardous substances from a brownfield
    site; and
    (ii) monitoring and enforcement of any institutional
    control used to prevent human exposure to
    any hazardous substance from a brownfield
    site." (Section 104(k) of the Comprehensive
    Environmental Response, Compensation and
    Liability Act (CERCLA), 42  U.S.C. 9604(k))

The Brownfields law requires the EPA to organize
an annual national competition to review and select
brownfield grant (assessment, revolving loan fund
(RLF), and cleanup) recipients. Since passage of the
law, the majority of grants directing funds to health
monitoring are assessment grants. Several cleanup grants
and one revolving loan fund grant also have allocated
funds for health monitoring.

An assessment grant  provides funding for a grant
recipient to inventory, characterize, assess and conduct
planning for cleanup  and redevelopment and community
involvement. A cleanup grant provides funding for
a grant recipient to carry out cleanup activities at
brownfield sites while a revolving loan fund grant
provides funding to capitalize a revolving loan fund
that may make loans  or subgrants to carry out cleanup
activities.

Given that each type  of brownfield grant funds different
activities, health monitoring activities under each
                      An abandoned building in Providence, Rhode Island.

               type of grant are likely to vary.  It is important for local
               governments to tailor health monitoring activities to
               reflect activities eligible to the appropriate grant.  Grant
               and health monitoring activities may also depend on
               the type of contaminants or issues at a particular site or
               community.  General types of potential activities include,
               but are not limited to:

                  •   Examining site access patterns to determine
                      the potential for exposures or site hazards (e.g.,
                      contaminated soils, open foundations) that pose
                      safety concerns;
                      Mapping site features that may affect exposures
                      such as site proximity to drinking water wells or
                      surface water bodies;
                  •   Monitoring health as part of community-wide
                      inventory activities;
                  •   Collecting or linking baseline  health
                      and environmental measures to inform
                      redevelopment planning options.  For example,
                      if health monitoring or health impact assessment
                      activities showed limited access to health care
                      services in the brownfield community or a lack
                      of sidewalks, trails or recreational facilities in
                      the target community, this information may be
                      used to propose increased health care services  or
                      increased green space, parks and trails as part of
                      redevelopment planning; or,
                  •   Monitoring air, nearby play areas, surrounding
                      soils or surface waters during cleanup, reuse
                      or as part of long term management and
                      stewardship to ensure protection of public health
                      and the environment.
Brownfields Fact Sheet
Public Health
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
     EPA-560-F-06-210
            July 2006
www.epa.gov/brownfields

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Through 2005, a number of local government grantees
have been successful in seeking health monitoring
funds as part of their brownfield grant. Over twenty five
(25) grants identify specific health monitoring projects
or await assessment results to identify appropriate
monitoring activities. Examples of proposed
activities include:

    •    Blood lead testing in the target community
        in collaboration with the city and state lead
        programs and asthma tracking in school
        children;
    •    Examining vital statistics in areas near
        brownfield sites; and,
    •    Testing of air and water with health agencies
        based on assessment results; and,
    •    Assessing community progress in meeting
        Healthy People 2010 objectives, national health
        goals of the Department of Health and Human
        Services (HHS) that serve as the basis for State
        and community health plans, as they relate to
        brownfields communities.

State and tribal brownfield response programs oversee
assessment and cleanup  activities at the majority of
brownfield sites across the country. Monitoring of the
health of populations around brownfield sites may be of
interest to states and tribes as they establish and enhance
their brownfields response programs.
             Soil sampling in Louisville, Kentucky.
              Health Monitoring
              A Public Health Practice

              The EPA Brownfields program has adapted the Centers
              for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) definition
              of public health monitoring, for the purpose of the
              brownfields program.  Health monitoring under an EPA
              brownfields grant can be summarized as:

                  "The collection of health-related qualitative
                  and quantitative data of relevance to brownfield
                  communities and hazardous substance exposures."
                  (See CDC, for additional  information on a definition
                  of public health monitoring)
                      The Skirvin Hotel in Oklahoma City before renovation.

              Health monitoring, as envisioned under a brownfields
              grant, is a public health practice, not research. There
              are federal regulations governing research on human
              subjects. Local government grantees should work with
              state or tribal health agencies responsible for managing
              human subject research to ensure compliance with the
              applicable law.

              As a public health practice, local government agencies
              that are planning to monitor health at brownfield
              sites will need to work with local and state health
              agencies and their EPA project officers to define and
              develop appropriate health monitoring projects as part
              of their brownfield grant.  EPA brownfield grantees
              should consult with their state health counterparts and
              institutional review boards if they have questions on the
              difference between public health practice and research.
Brownfields Fact Sheet
Public Health
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
     EPA-560-F-06-210
            July 2006
www.epa.gov/brownfields

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Tools and Supporting Organizations

The following list of tools and organizations is not exhaustive
but represents a sample of available tools that may help local
communities and governments interested in learning more
about health monitoring and improving public health as part of
brownfields redevelopment.

Healthy People 2010 - Healthy People 2010 provides a
framework and a statement of national health objectives
designed to identify the most significant preventable threats to
health and to establish national goals to reduce these threats.
For more information, please see:
http://www.healthypeople.gov/default.htm

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) - HIA provides decision
makers with information about how any policy, program or
project may affect the health of people. Please see the EPA
Brownfields and CDC website links for additional HIA
information.

The Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in
Environmental Health (PACE-EH), is a methodology to guide
local communities in identifying and addressing environmental
health priorities. It was developed by NACCHO in partnership
with the National Center for Environmental Health of the
CDC. Please  see the " Community-based Environmental
Health Assessment" link on the NACCHO website to
download resource materials and learn more about PACE-EH
projects across the country.

Supporting Organizations

State Health Agencies
Local governments may wish to first contact their state health
agencies to find out information about health issues related to
brownfields, health monitoring, health impact assessment or
other information or technical resources to support brownfields
redevelopment to create healthy communities.

Communities interested in brownfields and public health
issues in Indian country may wish to contact Tribal Health
Agencies or the Indian Health Service.

To learn more about brownfield program activities of the EPA
and our partners, please see the following:
        Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
      I) General brownfields program
         http ://www. epa. gov/brownfields/
        Information on the public health initiative including
        grantees conducting health monitoring and links to
        organizations listed below.
        http ://www. epa. gov/brownfields/mitiatives.htm
                  ATSDR Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
                       Communities and state and local health agencies can
                       seek information or request technical support and
                       assistance from ATSDR staff and their contractors
                       on risk assessment and risk communication, health
                       assessments and health consultations, and other
                       technical support through the ATSDR home page at:
                       http ://www. atsdr. cdc. go v/
                       American Planning Association
                       Resources to support collaboration between land use
                       and transportation planners and public health officials
                       on issues of shared concern, including two major
                       monographs to be published in late 2006: Integrating
                       Planning and Public Health: Tools and Strategies
                       to Create Healthy Places (sponsored by the CDC)
                       and Planning and Designing the Physically Active
                       Community Places (sponsored by the Robert Wood
                       Johnson Foundation). For additional resources, please
                       see the Research section at:
                       http://www.planning.org

                       Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
                       Information on public health practice can be found
                       on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
                       (CDC) website: http://www.cdc.gov/od/ads/opspolll.
                       htm  To learn more about the healthy places initiative
                       of the CDC, go to: http ://www.cdc. gov/healthyplaces/

                       Environmental Law Institute (ELI)
                       http ://www. eli. org
                       • The Brownfields Center of ELI provides valuable
                       information on assessment and cleanup of
                       brownfields as well as tools and models for
                       promoting community health and sustainability
                       through brownfields redevelopment.
                       http://www.brownfieldscenter.org/small/about.shtml

                      5] National Association of County and City Health
                       Officials (NACCHO)
                       Provides resources, tools, and training to support
                       improvements in environmental health and to better
                       integrate local health department officials in the
                       initial stages of land use planning process.
                       http ://www. naccho .org

                       I National Association of Local Boards of Health
                       I (NALBOH)
                       Resources that support local boards of health and
                       their efforts to improve environmental health practice
                       and involve health professionals in local land use
                       planning decisions.
                       http ://www.nalboh.org/

                       U.S. Conference  of Mayors (USCM)
                       Provides best practice approaches and resources to
                       support mayors and their staff in advancing efforts to
                       address and redevelop brownfield sites while creating
                       economic opportunities and improving and protecting
                       the environment and public health, http ://www.uscm.org/
     The private nonprofit organizations listed above are not the only sources of information regarding Brownfields and public health and other organizations
     may also provide useful information. Please note that these private organizations have their own policies relating to Brownfields cleanup and revitalization
     and that their views may not necessarily coincide with those of EPA.
Brownfields Fact Sheet
Public Health
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
     EPA-560-F-06-210
             July 2006
www. epa.gov/brownfields

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