Since beginning operations in 1998, the BTSC has provided brownfields stakeholders with the following types of services:
- Reviewing and providing comments on project documents, such as requests for proposals, work plans, field sampling plans, and quality assurance plans
- Facilitating the consideration and use of the Triad Approach
- Providing information about field-based technologies for site assessment and cleanup
- Identifing how dynamic work strategies and decision support tools can be incorporated in site assessment activities
- Evaluating remedial technologies and their advantages and limitations for site-specific features and needs
- Sharing technical information with non-technical audiences
- Providing easy access to resources, tools, recent news, and lessons learned
For Superfund sites, EPA OSRTI provides support services similar to those provided for Brownfields sites through the Superfund Technical Support Team (STST). EPA staff can request support for technical assistance via the BTSC site.
Services may be classified into two categories:
Local and state government personnel, EPA staff, tribes, and nonprofits with active EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grants may request site-specific support for brownfields sites from the BTSC and Superfund sites from the STST at no cost.
Nongovernment organizations are limited to information requests only.
Planning Support
Planning support includes planning for the use of innovative technologies and strategies, such as the Triad approach, at a
specific brownfields or land revitalization site. Support includes evaluating available documents to assess how to incorporate
elements of the Triad, including better use of field analytic technologies, and can include activities related to planning
procurement activities under a Triad approach or use of decision support tools such as Field Environmental Decision Support (FIELDS),
Spatial Analysis Decision Assistance (SADA), Visual Sampling Plan (VSP), or Scribe.
Document Reviews
Document reviews include technical reviews of requests for proposals (RFP), sampling and analysis plans (SAP), quality
assurance project plans (QAPP), feasibility studies, engineering designs, or work plans. The BTSC evaluates the documents
with regard to technology options, implementation processes, use of the Triad approach, and other appropriate elements.
Technology Scoping for Site Assessment or Investigation and Cleanup Technologies
Technology scoping includes preparing lists of potentially applicable technologies along with brief analyses of their advantages
and disadvantages under specific conditions at a site and in light of the specific features and needs of a site. This function
is not a formal review or approval process, but can provide decision makers with preliminary information in support of
decisions or approvals.
Technology Descriptions
Technology descriptions include brief (several pages) "layman’s" guides for a specific technology or technique. The
guides can assist decision-makers to more fully understand the principles of the technology (along with its cost and the
time necessary to implement it) and assist them in communicating the appropriateness of a technology to constituents and
stakeholders.
Review of Literature and Electronic Resources
Literature and electronic resource reviews include available information resources for technologies or classes of technologies relevant
to specific decisions at a site. The purpose of the reviews is to allow stakeholders an opportunity to broaden their understanding
of the technology options available for use at their sites.
Demonstration Planning Support
Drawing upon the expertise of EPA's Superfund Innovative Technologies Evaluation (SITE) program, the BTSC provides
planning assistance and technical review capabilities to localities that are seeking to arrange demonstrations and evaluations
of innovative sampling, analytical, or treatment technologies.
The BTSC and STST can provide information about specific technologies or types of technologies for use during site investigation and cleanup activities. These activities can include field-based measurement techniques, off-site analytical techniques, and innovative or conventional techniques for cleaning up contaminated soil or groundwater at a site. The BTSC and STST can identify applicable technologies and provide brief analyses of their potential advantages and limitations in light of site-specific features and needs. Moreover, technology information can be provided for a broad range of audiences, including technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
Local and state government personnel, EPA staff, tribes, and nonprofits with active EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grants may request direct support at no cost.
