&EPA
The Brownfields Initiative:
       Setting Change in Motion
            Before and after photos of the ba.
            Bridgeport, Connecticut.
                                      Brownfields:
                                 Abandoned, idled, or
                                under-used industrial and
                               commercial facilities where
                               expansion or redevelopment is
                               complicated by real or
                               perceived environmental
                               contamination.

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Groundbreaking ceremony at the Eco Industrial
Park in Cape Charles, Virginia.

What is the Brownfields Initiative?
Since its inception in 1995, EPA's Brownfields
Initiative has blossomed into a major national
program that has literally changed the way that
contaminated property is perceived, addressed,
and managed in the United States. The Initiative
reflects a new model of environmental protection
that creates economically viable, environmentally
sound, self-sustaining communities.
Prior to EPA's Brownfields Initiative, brownfields
typically remained undeveloped (and often
unapproached) because of two critical un-
knowns: 1) the level of existing contamination on
the site, if any; and 2) the often vague notions of
potential responsibility for that contamination,
should ties to the site be established. Fears of
mandatory cleanup under the Agency's Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and
awareness of a site's listing among the tens of
thousands of other brownfields within EPA's Com-
prehensive Environmental Response, Compensa-
tion, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS),
served as barriers to private sector involvement in
brownfields restoration, even considering many of
these sites' prime locations.
The Brownfields Initiative has helped to remove
these barriers and leverage billions of dollars
toward brownfields restoration from the private
and public sectors. The Initiative proved that the
old "command and control" way of managing
contaminated properties was not a feasible
approach for managing less polluted sites, and
that common sense approaches were needed to
help American cities handle their own economic
destinies. EPA also learned that neither problems
nor solutions are created in a vacuum, and that to
be effective, cooperation and collaboration were
needed among the entire federal family to
address these lesser contaminated sites.  The
Brownfields National Partnership, now 22 agencies
strong, has since become a model for not only
increasing efficiency, but for leveraging significant
funds to benefit local community efforts.
Brownfields Pilots—Paving the Way
The goal of the Brownfields Initiative is to enable
states and communities to work together to assess,
safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields.
One of the primary ways the Initiative does this is
by providing small amounts of seed money to
local governments, which then create two-year
Brownfields "Pilot" programs that build capacity
and partnerships at the local level, while develop-
ing innovative approaches to brownfields issues.
Brownfields Pilot programs provide cities, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful
information and strategies for brownfields restora-
tion. Pilot programs not only provide initial funding,
but offer continued general and technical assis-
tance to help meet cleanup goals. Designed with
replicability in mind, Brownfields Pilots encourage
information-sharing to ensure that future Pilots will
learn from the shortcomings and successes of
Pilots that preceded them.
Brownfields Pilots fall under several categories:
•   Brownfields Assessment Pilots provide funding
    for environmental assessments and community
    outreach.
•   Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund
    (BCRLF) Pilots provide funding to capitalize
    loans that are used to clean up brownfields.
•   Brownfields Job Training and Development
    Demonstration Pilots provide environmental
    training for residents of brownfields communi-
    ties.
•   Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
    (RCRA)/Brownfields Prevention  Pilots utilize the
    inherent flexibility in RCRA regulations to
    prevent brownfields from forming on RCRA
    properties.
•   Clean Air/Brownfields Partnership Pilots help
    determine the  potential air quality and other
    environmental  and economic benefits of
    redeveloping urban brownfields.

New housing development located in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

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                                                         "We have seen a significant transformation in the way
                                                         we view our air, water, and land. Today, there is
                                                         universal agreement that our natural resources are
                                                         valuable, not just for the economic prosperity they help
                                                         create, but for what they add to our quality of life."
                                                              —United States Environmental Protection Agency,
                                                                       Christine Todd Whitman, Administrator
                                                                                   Senate Hearing, 1/17/01
Revitalized South End District in Charlotte, North Carolina.

     •   Brownfields Showcase Communities serve as
        national models for successful brownflelds
        assessment cleanup, and redevelopmenf.
     •   Targeted Brownfields Assessments (TBAs)
        provide funding and/or technical assistance
        for environmental assessments at selected
        brownflelds sites not targeted by EPA Assess-
        ment Pilots.

     Pilot and Initiative Accomplishments
     •   Brownflelds Job Training  Pilots have produced
        hundreds of graduates, the majority of whom
        quickly found careers within the environmental
        field.
     •   Cleanup and redevelopment of brownflelds
        enabled through the Initiative have created
        thousands of jobs, particularly for residents of
        disadvantaged communities.
     •   Of the thousands of properties assessed
        through Brownflelds Pilots, several hundred
        required no cleanup, instantly returning them
        to circulation—in many cases, after years of
        perceived worthlessness.
     •   The Initiative's Assessment Pilot grants have
        leveraged billions of dollars in cleanup and
        redevelopment funding from the private and
        public sectors.
     •   For every brownfleld acre redeveloped
        into residential and commercial uses,
        21.4 acres of greenspace are pro-
        tected.
 An Impressive Past and a Promising Future
 The momentum generated by Brownfields Pilot
 projects is outliving the duration of the Pilots them-
 selves—leveraging state, local, and private invest-
 ment long after federal funds are expended.
 Across the country, communities once impacted by
 brownflelds now benefit through local workforce
 development and job training programs. Environ-
 mental assessments conducted through the Initiative
 have removed contamination and liability uncer-
 tainties from thousands of sites across the country,
 resulting in billions of dollars in cleanup and  redevel-
 opment funding leveraged from the private and
 public sectors. Pilot by Pilot and site by site, the
 Brownfields Initiative is replacing hopelessness with
 community empowerment and economic revitaliza-
 tion, enabling disadvantaged neighborhoods to
 succeed through the opportunities provided through
 brownfields restoration.
                Building State and Local
           Capacity for Continued Success

      EPA's Brownfields Initiative builds state and local capacity
   through both funding and technical assistance by:

• Providing financial support to the more than 40 states that
3ve developed voluntary cleanup programs to establish clear
anup goals and provide liability relief.
                                                • Partnering with states to reduce liability concerns at brownfields
                                               sites by entering into Superfund Memoranda of Agreement (MOA)
                                              with state environmental agencies, to define each agency's roles
                                              and responsibilities at a particular site. MOAs are beneficial to states
                                              in  marketing their voluntary  cleanup and brownfields programs to
                                             potential developers and investors because they provide a level of
                                             comfort with the potential liability risks under the federal Superfund
                                             program.

                                             • Forming effective partnerships with state and local governments to
                                              bolster efforts to clean  up brownfields sites, remove obstacles to
                                              redevelopment, and involve  affected communities.

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        United States
        Environmental Protection
        Agency
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
                                  EPA500-F-01-342
                                  September 2001
                                  www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  United States Environmental Protection Agency,
        Christine Todd Whitman, Administrator
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