Climate Showcase Communities Grants
The Climate Showcase Communities grant program will assist local and tribal governments in developing plans, conducting demonstrations, and implementing projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while achieving additional environmental, economic, public health, and/or community benefits. The overall goal of the Climate Showcase Communities program is to create replicable models of sustainable community action that generate cost-effective and persistent greenhouse gas reductions while improving the environmental, economic, public health, or social conditions in a community. EPA anticipates awarding up to approximately 30 cooperative agreements from this announcement subject to availability of funds. Proposals are due July 26, 2010.
CERCLA Section 128(A) State Implementation Support Grant Request for Proposals
EPA announces the availability of funds and solicits proposals to fund research, training and technical assistance to promote and stimulate information exchange among State officials managing solid, hazardous and brownfields response programs (response programs), and EPA officials to jointly resolve Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Section 128(a) "co-implementor and co-regulator" issues, and identify emerging response program issues that are of interest to states.
Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, & Cleanup Grants
Communities in 40 states, four Tribes, and one U.S. Territory will share $78.9 million in EPA Brownfields grants to help clean up, revitalize, and sustainably reuse contaminated properties, turning them from problem properties to productive community use. The grants, awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will provide funding to eligible entities through brownfields assessment, revolving loan fund, and cleanup grants. Since the beginning of the Brownfields Program, EPA has awarded 1702 assessment grants totaling $401.0 million, 262 revolving loan fund grants totaling $256.7 million and 655 cleanup grants totaling $129.4 million.
Brownfields Job Training Grants Announcement
Twelve communities will share $2.4 million in job training grants geared toward cleaning up contaminated properties and turning them into productive community assets. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under its Brownfields Program is awarding grants of $200,000 each to non-profit organizations, workforce investment boards, academic institutions, and local city and county governments. The grants will teach environmental assessment and cleanup job skills to individuals living in areas near brownfields sites in California, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Washington.
Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Pilot Program
EPA announces the availability of grant funds and direct assistance (through Agency contract support) and solicits proposals from eligible entities to facilitate community involvement in area-wide planning approaches to brownfields assessment, cleanup and subsequent reuse. Area-wide planning grant funding and technical assistance will be directed to brownfields-impacted areas, such as a neighborhood, district, city block or corridor. The grant funding and direct assistance will result in an area-wide plan which will inform the assessment, cleanup and reuse of brownfields properties and promote area-wide revitalization. EPA anticipates selecting approximately 20 pilot projects through this competitive opportunity. The deadline for proposal receipt (postmarked hard copy or via email) is June 1, 2010.
FY 2010 Funds to Supplement Eligible Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grants
EPA is announcing the availability of an estimated $8 million in FY 2010 funds to supplement eligible brownfields revolving loan fund (RLF) grants. Grants eligible to request supplemental funds are brownfields RLF grants that have been previously awarded competitively under Section 104(k)(3) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) or that have transitioned to Section 104(k)(3) of CERCLA, and subject to other identified criteria. Requests for funding must be postmarked and received by email by April 8, 2010.
Partnership for Sustainable Communities: Brownfields Pilot Projects
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) are working together under the Partnership for Sustainable Communities to ensure that federal investments, policies, and actions do not subsidize sprawl, but do support development in more efficient and sustainable locations. The partnership selected five community pilot projects to receive direct technical assistance from EPA.
Upcoming related events include the following:
2010 Western Brownfields Workshop - September 14-16, 2010, Missoula, Montana
The workshop provides a unique opportunity to learn about current brownfields topics from regional experts, share success stories, and network with others in the western region. The workshop is designed for current EPA Brownfields grantees and communities interested in becoming grantees in EPA Regions 8, 9, and 10.
Annual National Tanks Conference and Expo - September 20-22, 2010, Boston, Massachusetts
Held each spring in the nation's Capitol, is an essential part of the association's federal advocacy program. The event features expert panels on federal budget and policy issues, plus participants receive talking points, policy briefs and other materials needed to communicate effectively with federal lawmakers and policymakers. In addition, attendees have a unique chance to network one-on-one with federal agency officials during the federal agency roundtable session.
ConSoil 2010 - September 22-24, 2010, Salzburg, Austria
This is Europe's largest conference on the management of soil, groundwater, and sediment and it will be attended by more than 800 representatives from science and industry. The conference will focus on the following four themes: 1) restoration, 2) new functions of the subsurface, 3) sustainable management of land use and the subsurface, and 4) management of contamination at the regional scale.
Reclaiming Vacant Properties: the Intersection of Sustainability, Revitalization, and Policy Reform - October 13-15, 2010, Cleveland, Ohio
This October, join the National Vacant Properties Campaign, Neighborhood Progress, Inc., and hundreds of people from communities from the Sunbelt to the Rustbelt, to learn about the policies, tools, and strategies to catalyze long-term, sustainable revitalization. Share your experiences and insights and become a part of the only national network focused on building the knowledge, leadership, and momentum to reclaim vacant and abandoned properties to foster thriving neighborhoods.
ICMA Annual Conference - October 17-20, 2010, San Jose, California
The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) is the professional and educational organization for chief appointed managers, administrators, and assistants in cities, towns, counties, and regional entities throughout the world. Since 1914, ICMA has provided technical and management assistance, training, and information resources to its members and the local government community. The management decisions made by ICMA's 9,000 members affect nearly 185 million individuals in thousands of communities--from small towns with populations of a few hundred to metropolitan areas serving several million. Planning is underway for ICMA’s 2010 Annual Conference.
Brownfields National Conference 2011 - April 3-5, 2011, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The EPA Brownfields Program is co-sponsoring the 14th National Brownfields Conference on April 3-5, 2011, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The conference will provide a forum for training, research and technical assistance to communities to facilitate the inventory of brownfield sites, assessment and remediation of brownfields sites, community involvement, and the green and sustainable revitalization of brownfields and contaminated sites.
Let us know about upcoming events not listed here by calling the BTSC hotline at (877) 838-7220 (toll free) or
contact us through this site.
* Click on "Resources" to expand the list for each topic area. Some resources are available through EPA's National Environmental Publications Internet Site (NEPIS). To find documents through http://nepis.epa.gov, click on the "Field Search" link. Enter the document number in the "EPA Publication No." field without the "EPA" prefix or hyphens (e.g., 542R05009).
The National Brownfields Conference is the largest, most comprehensive conference in the nation focused on environmental revitalization and economic redevelopment. Brownfields 2009 was held in New Orleans, Louisiana from November 16 - 18, 2009. This year, EPA's Technology Innovation and Field Services Division (TIFSD) featured a slideshow primer and provided resources for several focus areas in support of its general conference theme - Achieving Sustainable Cleanups Through Innovation. Slideshow primers and lists of resources for each focus area are provided below:
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Reuse / Revitalization -- Restoring contaminated and potentially contaminated sites to productive use. Reuse and revitalization aims to follow a process in which comprehensive planning leads to project success and effectively integrated solutions ensure sustainability.
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Green Remediation -- The practice of considering all environmental effects of remedy implementation and incorporating options to minimize the environmental footprints of cleanup actions. Through green remediation, site-specific conservation benefits are compared for different cleanup strategies and the environmental trade-offs of those strategies are weighed.
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Vapor Intrusion -- The migration of volatile chemical vapors from the subsurface to overlying buildings. Vapor intrusion occurs when dissolved contamination in groundwater volatilizes, migrates as vapor into overlying vadose zone, enters structures through floor and wall cracks, becomes trapped inside enclosed space, and exposes occupants to indoor air contamination.
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Triad Approach / Best Management Practices (BMP) -- An approach used to manage decision uncertainty that results in increased confidence that project decisions about contaminant presence, location, fate, exposure, and risk reduction choices and design are made correctly and cost-effectively. The Triad elements include systematic project planning, dynamic work strategies, and real-time measurement technologies.
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