Sustainable Communities | Land Risk Management Research

Land is the ultimate “filter” for protecting watersheds and air from toxic, anthropogenic contaminants. Therefore, land research issues are vital to research in other media. Land use decisions are largely responsible for loss of ecosystem services that sustain us and provide us with quality of life. These services include resources needed for basic survival, such as the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the plants and animals that sustain us and provide the basis for our economy. Imprudent land uses can easily compromise ecosystems and the services they provide. Many of the land use decisions that affect ecosystem services are made at the individual and community levels. Communities have to deal with the consequences of past and ongoing land use decisions. Land researchers have helped communities deal with the consequences of past land use decisions, such as brownfield and Superfund issues, and historical contamination by hazardous waste left from such previous land uses as industry and mining.

Land researchers currently help communities draft development plans that include sustainable land use decisions that will protect ecosystem services and thus keep the residents healthy and the communities economically viable far into the future, while valuing each community’s unique social and historical attributes.

Environmental Issue or Problem

Because development usually involves many small land use changes by individuals over time, not guided by a larger plan, necessary ecosystem services are being lost. Brownfields and other types of Superfund sites contaminated from hazardous waste (from activities such as mining) often occupy prime real estate. EPA estimates that there are about 450,000 abandoned and polluted waste sites nationwide that have been tainted by oil or chemicals or scarred by various industries. It is essential to encourage and promote the revitalization of previously used lands so that existing social and environmental systems are maintained and even enhanced in an economically advantageous manner and without compromising those of future generations.

Research Approach

Sustainable risk management research projects and programs address remediation, redevelopment, and revitalization relative to past, current, and future land use decisions. Through the development of tools, approaches, methods, and technologies, we can facilitate revitalization of potentially contaminated sites, while encouraging stakeholders to incorporate a balance of social, economic, and environmental interests and objectives into growth and development that will not negatively impact current or future generations.

Land researchers use sound science and develop innovative technology that can be used to redevelop properties contaminated due to past land use decisions that created brownfields and Superfund sites. This redevelopment boosts local economies and helps create jobs while protecting public health. Land researchers network with EPA programs, other federal agencies, and private firms to deliver the latest methods, approaches, and technologies needed to characterize, remediate, and manage risk at contaminated sites.

Sustainability planning criteria are being developed, implemented, and evaluated for land use planning so communities and towns can develop to meet citizen needs and expectations, while leaving the essential attributes of economic, social, and ecological systems intact and able to sustain future generations. Communities armed with master plans with a number of alternative strategies that consider the natural, social, and economic needs of the community can sustain ecosystem services and thus ensure a long future with an excellent quality of life.

One of the tools under development as part of land systems sustainability research is decision analysis (DA). DA provides land and resource planners with a rigorous process that enables them to restore, protect, or maintain the health and sustainability of human and ecological communities. DA is a formalized common sense approach for big issues. The DA process uses outputs of EPA land management researchers' innovative basic and applied research in waste, materials, and land management as inputs to the decision analysis models, with a focus on the ultimate achievement of land use sustainability. This process integrates a range of multi-disciplinary expertise with input from stakeholders. The outputs of the work of EPA researchers are combined with the expertise of decision analysts, land use planners, social scientists, systems engineers, ecologists, and economists to help communities to solve local and regional land use problems.

Partners

EPA: Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation (OPEI); Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI); Office of Brownfields, Cleanup, and Redevelopment (OBCR); OEI; Ecosystem Services Research Program; ORD's Sustainable Technology Division, all EPA regions
State Agencies: State Departments of Health and Environmental Protection; Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC); Oregon; Colorado
Other Federal Agencies: U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE), Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Academia: Carnegie Mellon University, Colorado School of Mines
Business/Industry: EnviMSI, Prima, Neptune and Company, URS Corp.
Other: Stella, Missouri; German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF); Abandoned Mine Lands Team; National Mining Team; Engineering Forum

Projects

Land researchers conduct research to provide tools for remediation, renovation, and revitalization of historically contaminated brownfield sites, and technical support to the regions and others to clean up these sites, which include past mining operations. Land risk management researchers are partners in development and improvement of a decision support tool called SMARTe, which will inform revitalization stakeholders about the entire revitalization process, help communities overcome obstacles to revitalization, and assist them in the complex selection of reuse options. Projects in this area of land research include development of decision analysis tools such as Decision Analysis for a Sustainable Environment, Economy, and Society (DASEES). Land researchers are applying DA methods to waste and materials management and land systems sustainability research, and demonstrating the relevance of decision analytical techniques to legacy site remediation and future sustainable land management. Sustainable community projects such as Planning Land and Communities to be Environmentally Sustainable (PLACES), which completed a successful pilot in Stella, Missouri, and Alternative Futures Analysis (AFA), are underway.

Selected Publications

Ecosystem Services Decision Support: A Living Database of Existing Tools, Approaches, and Techniques for Supporting Decisions Related to Ecosystem Services (EPA/600/R-09/102) 2009

Parker, R.A. (2009). “Regulatory Aspects of Implementing Electrokinetic Remediation.” Chapter 28 in Electrochemical Remediaton of Polluted Soils, Sediments, and Groundwater. Edited by K.R. Reddy and C. Cameselle. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. p. 589–606

Vega, A., R. Argus, T. Stockton, P. Black, K. Black, and N. Stiber. (2009). “SMARTe: An MCDA Approach to Revitalize Communities and Restore the Environment.” Chapter 9 in Decision Support Systems for Risk-Based Management Of Contaminated Sites. Edited by A. Marcomini, G. W. Suter II, and A. Critto. Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, New York, NY. p. 179-204

U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development, Ecosystem Services Research Program (ESRP), Decision Support Framework (DSF) Team, Research Team Implementation Plan (EPA/600/R-09/104) September 2009

Hansen, V. E. (2007). “Starting Small in Stella: Learning How to Plan for Sustainability.” Presentation, Forum on the Application of Sustainability Theory to Urban Development Practice, College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning, University of Cincinnati. August.

Contact

Roger Yeardley, Technology Transfer Specialist
513-569-7548
U.S. EPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Land Remediation and Pollution Control Division
26 W. Martin Luther King Dr.
Mail Code: 190
Cincinnati, OH 45268

Risk Mangement Research | Air and Climate Change Research | Water Research | Ecosystems Restoration Research | Land Risk Management Research | Technology: Sustainable Technologies Research, Environmental Technology Verification Program (ETV), and Technology Assessments

Area Navigation

Risk Management Research Home