EPA Funds 16 Greener Brownfields Pilot Projects
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is providing more than $500,000 in technical assistance for 16 Brownfields Sustainability Pilots, the agency said in a July 29 press release.
Assistance will support sustainable activities such as the reuse and recycling of construction and demolition materials, green building and infrastructure design, energy efficiency, water conservation, renewable energy development, and native landscaping.
"Brownfields redevelopment and sustainable reuse can go hand in hand," said Susan Bodine, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "These pilots will demonstrate best practices that can be used by other communities across the country."
EPA will work with communities to incorporate sustainable redevelopment into the planning, design, and implementation of their brownfields projects. Each pilot project will receive between $20,000 and $50,000 in assistance.
Pilot examples include:
- Analysis of green roof systems for a brownfields project in Roxbury, Mass.
- Feasibility analysis of reusing and recycling materials from closed textile mills in Valley, Ala.
- Green building and green infrastructure design at a former smelter in San Juan County, Colo.
- Assistance with applying green building principles and providing community training at a former gas station being converted into a community center in Portland, Ore.
The city of Houston has been awarded $50,000 to help develop a solar energy plant on the site of a former landfill.
This project seeks to revitalize a 300-acre former landfill site located near downtown. Funding from EPA will help with evaluating the various environmental, engineering, and regulatory issues involved in the project. Assistance will also help conduct solar energy production and financial feasibility studies.
Brownfields are vacant, abandoned or under-used properties where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of environmental contamination.
For more information on the Brownfields Sustainability Pilots, go to http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/sustain_plts/index.htm.