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Issue #12 | January 2022

Brownfield Resources and Updates

 

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Feature Story

EPA Brownfields Redevelopment, Gentrification, and Displacement Roundtable

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021: The National Brownfields Coalition’s Environmental Justice Committee was invited to be a part of a recent EPA roundtable on brownfield redevelopment and environmental justice. A key focus of discussion was strategies for avoiding gentrification and displacement in the face of brownfield remediation and redevelopment projects. 

Engaging in a facilitated discussion with EPA staff and industry leaders, participants  highlighted strategies and tools such as community land banks, community benefit agreements, and capacity-building initiatives to minimize exclusion and displacement of communities in close proximity to or within brownfield redevelopment projects. 

 

Reads and Resources

Follow the Coalition on LinkedIn to stay up to date on our happenings and initiatives

  • EPA plan outlines strategies to boost equity in waste cleanups: Earlier this month, U.S. EPA published the EJ Action Plan: Building Up Environmental Justice in EPA’s Land Protection and Cleanup Programs, which features  sustainable tools and practices to guide the Agency’s Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) programs including Superfund, Brownfields, Emergency Response, Solid Waste Management and Corrective Action, and Underground Storage Tanks. 

  • Brownfield redevelopment story map: Check out this story map by Robin Hansen from George Mason University providing a visual presentation of a historical context of brownfield redevelopment in the U.S. along with brownfield reuse design concepts.

  • Decades after Congress’s orders, toxics still contaminate millions of schools: This article summarizes the troubling contamination and inequity concerns within schools nationwide, and includes a call to action to enact federal funding and opportunities in the new year. 

  • Equitable Development in Action: What makes community driven revitalization models work?: ​​A wonderful document demonstrating the positive and powerful progress supporting sustainable redevelopment. The report features the Regenesis project lead by Harold Mitchell Jr. of the NBC Steering Committee and Co-Chair of our Environmental Justice and Public Health Committee.

  • EPA announces plans to use first $1B from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to clear out the Superfund backlog: EPA has announced that initial funds within the Bipartisan Infrastructure law will be used to alleviate nearly 50 backlogged SUPERFUND sites across the country by expediting the cleanup of these areas. Other important equity concerns and comments from prominent leaders in the brownfields redevelopment field are included in this announcement, which you can read here

  • Brownfields redevelopment requires a cautious approach: Read the National Association for Industrial and Office Parks’ (NAIOP) take on the risks associated with brownfield redevelopment, and the potentially catalytic  benefits that come from well-executed brownfield projects.

  • The year in climate photos: As a year end wrap-up, this visual resource recaps all the major events related to policy, our environment, and climate in 2021.

 

The Brownfields Redevelopment Tax Incentive Reauthorization Act needs your support

Restoring this vital tax credit to revitalize our communities is long overdue. We encourage you to reach out to your Representatives today and urge them to cosponsor the bipartisan bill H.R. 4427.

 

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

The National Brownfields Coalition is a non-partisan alliance of public interest organizations, academics, as well as public and private sector professionals who collaborate to educate, advocate, and convene stakeholders nationally to advance the social, economic, public health, environmental, and quality of life benefits of environmental cleanup and reuse for all communities.

There has never been a better time to be part of the Coalition.

Join our passionate team to realize significant gains in legislation, appropriations and policies that revitalize our communities through land reuse. NBC membership at any level offers the opportunity to participate in our five active committees working to achieve our brownfields goals.

If you or your organization are hosting any events related to brownfields redevelopment and you’d like to share registration information with the Coalition’s network, please email mguglielmone@smartgrowthamerica.org with the details.

About the National Brownfields Coalition
Contact: https://smartgrowthamerica.org/about-us/contact-us/

The National Brownfields Coalition works to ensure the responsible cleanup and reuse of underutilized, blighted, or environmentally impacted land. A program of Smart Growth America and the Center for Creative Land Recycling.

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