Cleanup Enforcement

The Environmentally Responsible Redevelopment and Reuse (ER3) Initiative uses enforcement and other Agency-wide incentives to promote sustainable cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated sites.

The cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated sites produces significant environmental benefits and, in most cases, is preferable to a property remaining underutilized or idle. Current development practices, however, can also have significant environmental impacts, such as wildlife habitat destruction, stormwater runoff, use of scarce natural resources, and increased energy consumption.

By incorporating sustainable practices and principles into their projects, developers of contaminated sites can minimize the impact of the project on the environment without sacrificing profitability.

Sustainable development is a multi-faceted, long-term approach which balances economically sound development with environmental protection and social responsibility. For more information on sustainability in general, please refer to EPA's Sustainability website.

How ER3 Works

The primary components of ER3 are:

• Identify and provide enforcement and Agency-wide incentives to developers and property owners to encourage sustainable cleanup and development.
• Develop partnerships with federal, state, public, and private entities to establish a network of expertise on sustainable development issues.
• Promote sustainable redevelopment of contaminated properties through education and outreach.

ER3 Philosophy

By promoting and facilitating environmentally responsible redevelopment at formerly contaminated sites, the goal of ER3 is to establish the next generation of environmental protection - one that proactively prevents and/or reduces contamination in the developed environment.

To achieve this goal, EPA, through ER3, will collaborate with federal, state, public, and private partners to identify, develop, and deliver incentives to encourage developers and property owners to implement sustainable development practices during the redevelopment of contaminated sites.

The ER3 initiative builds on EPA's efforts to use redevelopment and revitalization of contaminated sites as an effective tool to spur cleanups that otherwise may not occur. For more information on Agency-wide efforts to promote redevelopment of Brownfields, please see information on EPA's Brownfields website and the Superfund Redevelopment Program website.

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