Dangers in Your Neighborhood: Brownfield Sites

Dangers in your Neighborhood:

Brownfield Sites

 According to the EPA, “A Brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.”

Typically what this means is that at some point back in history, an individual or business owned the land in question and may have used toxic or hazardous materials on that land. That sounds a lot like a “Superfund” site, however the difference is in a superfund site it is well known and documented that the land has become tarnished by hazardous materials. Essentially a brownfield site means No one is sure at this point in time whether a particular site is dangerous.

       Sites listed as Brownfields usually stay vacant until a new owner is willing to go through the excessive paperwork and approved testing. The EPA offers several forms of loans and grants dedicated to cleaning up Brownfield sites.

“EPA's investment in the brownfields program has resulted in many accomplishments, including leveraging brownfields cleanup and redevelopment funding from the private and public sectors and leveraging  jobs. The momentum generated by the program is leaving an enduring legacy. The brownfields program and its partners have provided guidance and incentives to support economic revitalization, and empowered communities to address the brownfields in their midst. EPA's brownfield program continues to look to the future by expanding the types of properties it addresses, forming new partnerships, and undertaking new initiatives to help revitalize communities across the nation.”

For Example in my home town there is a commercial office building located on a busy main road. It was an every-day, ordinary building that no one would pay any special attention too. However it turned out this was in fact a brownfield site. However to my surprise the building itself was not the brownfield site, rather, it was its designated parking lot. Lying beneath the pavement of this parking lot was the original site of a Steam Laundry Business that opened it’s doors in 1897. The business shut down in 1903, but had another brief stint from 1939 to 1942. This site was believed to be contaminated with “A Volatile Organic Compound”. Specifically the site was believed to contain “Perchloroethylene”. Most notably this chemical has a compromising effect on the central nervous system and if you are exposed to high levels then you may fall unconscious or even die. Lucky enough my hometown received a grant in 2013 from the EPA to clean up this site. Now the occupants of the neighborhood are safe, and we benefit from having a safer and cleaner local environment.

Find out if there is a Brownfield in your town!

If you go to this link:

https://www.epa.gov/enviro/frs-query-page

-        Scroll down the page and at very minimum you should plug in your state. There are thousands of brownfields in the U.S. and you may not want to scroll through all of the results. The more specific filters you use, the narrower your results. (Obviously)

-        Select the Brownfield database, “ACRES”

-        Reserch your results!

Make yourself aware, and if you have any hazardous plots of land in your town then speak out to your local government. If everyone took care of their own home town, then our nation would be both cleaner and greener and we could look toward tackling bigger issues.