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What's Ahead for Superfund Redevelopment
The Superfund Redevelopment Program has achieved much in a short time—more than 300 cleaned-up Superfund sites have been returned to productive use, or have reuses planned for them. In communities across the country, these sites are seeing new life as places of recreation, commerce, ecological habitat, housing, and agriculture. More than 30,000 jobs at these sites have generated more than $1.3 billion in annual income for their communities.
These impressive accomplishments are the result of stakeholders working together—EPA, communities, local, state, and tribal governments, the private sector—and EPA plans to foster new partnerships that will no doubt lead to even more success. The Agency is pursuing partnerships with recreational organizations, similar to its partnership with the U.S. Soccer Foundation, that will sponsor new recreational venues on former Superfund sites. EPA is also considering partnerships with major retail chains and other commercial enterprises to support those communities seeking the economic revitalization of the Superfund sites in their midst.
In addition to EPA's cooperative approach to fostering reuse at Superfund sites, the Agency has developed several tools to make it easier to redevelop formerly contaminated properties. EPA continually looks for ways to address barriers to reuse. The Agency's new Ready for Reuse Determination is a tool that is used to indicate to the marketplace a property's suitability for reuse; it has been used successfully at three sites since it was introduced last year. EPA's Regional offices are in the process of preparing additional determinations. The Agency will continue to provide guidance, site assessment instruments, and other resources to meet the needs of those trying to redevelop Superfund sites. EPA will also train personnel in its Regional field offices so they can better help stakeholders throughout the reuse process. And, EPA has designated Superfund Reuse Coordinators in each of its ten Regional offices to serve as a resource to all field staff, as well as to the public.
EPA offers considerable support to communities wanting to reuse Superfund sites. In addition to providing funding and facilitation services, the Agency is creating teams who will bring expertise in Superfund, land use, real estate, and community involvement to support community-based reuse planning. EPA is also embarking on an initiative that will help communities reuse hundreds of Superfund sites that have been cleaned up but where reuse had not been planned for and access is restricted—these sites may be vacant, fenced off, and otherwise inaccessible to the public, but would be safe for certain reuses. EPA will work with stakeholders to remove unnecessary access restrictions and reclaim these sites for their communities.
A significant effort is underway at EPA to implement two new program performance measures developed last year: (1) the number of acres of land at Superfund sites that are available for reuse, and (2) the number of Superfund sites with land that is available for reuse. These new measures, which provide an important barometer for progress at Superfund properties across the nation, meet the Government Performance and Results Act's requirement that federal agencies demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs. By deciding to include reuse as an indication of effectiveness, EPA has demonstrated its commitment to site reuse as a primary goal of the Superfund program.
The Superfund program is giving increasing attention to land reuse as a priority and an integral part of its primary mission of protecting human health and the environment. EPA is committed to assuring that all of its cleanup programs work together, and with other federal, state, local, and tribal authorities to put formerly polluted property back into use in a way that benefits the entire community. Superfund, along with cleanup programs managed under Brownfields, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Federal Facilities, and Underground Storage Tank authorities, participates in the Agency's Land Revitalization Agenda (LRA). LRA is a groundbreaking effort to ensure that reuse planning is a vital component of all EPA cleanup efforts, and a demonstration of the Agency's commitment to helping communities transform what were once eyesores and detriments into assets that benefit both residents and the environment.
Finally, EPA is seeking to create an informed community of stakeholders who understand the opportunities Superfund sites represent and the benefits reuse brings, and who will work with EPA to return these sites to productive use. To that end, the Agency is engaging in an outreach campaign that includes new communications materials, a revised, user-friendly Web site, and opportunities for dialogue among stakeholder groups, all designed to inform, share lessons learned, and keep stakeholders aware of new approaches, tools, and possibilities available to them.
EPA looks forward to applying the lessons it has learned and building on its previous efforts to help more and more communities reuse Superfund sites.