News & Links
Business of Brownfields Conference
April 19-21, 2010
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Mahfood Group LLC® presented a paper at the Business of Brownfields Conference in Pittsburgh on April 21, 2010. The abstract is presented below:
Sustainable Benefits of Urban Farming as a Potential Brownfields Remedy
In many American cities, anticity planning is a significant part of urban planning as populations flee to suburban and exurban areas or more dynamic regions with positive job growth. For brownfield sites where infrastructure improvements aren’t economically feasible, urban farming may be a realistic and sustainable alternative to costly redevelopment projects that have provided equivocal returns on investment.
Contaminant types, concentrations, occurrence and distribution are important factors to consider when evaluating candidate sites for agricultural use. Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) can be used to identify the best potential crops and safest agricultural practices for a given property by providing a framework for decision making relative to future property use. Risk prioritization and socio-cultural assessment techniques (ORNL) can also be employed to evaluate whether urban farming is a realistic alternative.
For brownfield sites where HHRA indicates that the nature and extent of contamination prohibits agriculture for food consumption because of uptake concerns, returning properties to a more natural state or farming to support an emerging industry like cellulosic ethanol production may be viable alternatives. From an urban planning and policy perspective, converting brownfield sites into urban farms also creates a “land bank” that provides planners with resources for future redevelopment opportunities. When evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively, using HHRA to support urban farming as a remediation alternative gives stakeholders a viable and flexible alternative to conventional brownfield redevelopment.
To view the presentation, click here.
April 16-17, 2009
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Mahfood Group LLC® in cooperation with Collective Efforts, LLC presented two papers at the Business of Brownfields Conference which was held in Pittsburgh in April 2009. The abstracts are presented below:
Effects of Changing Regulatory Paradigms on Brownfield Viability and Sustainability
Contamination greatly complicates the reuse of Brownfield sites, despite legislative relief from liability and availability of risk-based attainment standards promulgated under state voluntary cleanup programs. The general perception is that, involvement with these sites is more costly and complicated than development efforts involving Greenfields.
Reuse is further complicated by changing regulatory paradigms. For example, changes in how certain contaminants are evaluated from a toxicological perspective (e.g. ethylbenzene and naphthalene) will result in changes to risk-based attainment criteria. These changes may impact risk-based attainment criteria promulgated under state voluntary cleanup programs.
Another complication is the growing focus on emerging contaminants (ECs). ECs are defined as synthetic or naturally occurring chemicals or microorganisms that are not commonly monitored in the environment but having the potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected adverse ecological and(or) human health effects. The USGS’ Emerging Contaminant Project indicates that releases of ECs were not recognized until new analytical detection methods were developed.
Yet another issue relates to stormwater management and permitting for post-construction plans. How can on-site infiltration measures (recommended by the state’s Best Management Practice guidance) be permitted at brownfield sites with residual soil contamination? There are also issues associated with trying to reuse deteriorated sewer lines at a site. These lines may not “work” with a new layout or roadway system.
The implication for Brownfield site cleanup programs and the sustainability of re-occupied Brownfield sites will be discussed in this paper.
Practical Considerations in Sustainability
In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development issued a report called “Our Common Future”. This report introduced a new concept in environmental and human affairs called Sustainable Development. Sustainable development was defined as: "… development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
Implicit in this sustainability concept is that economics and ecology must be completely integrated in decision making and lawmaking processes, not only to protect the environment but, to also promote development. However, more than twenty years later, environmental, engineering and regulatory professionals struggle with this multi-disciplinary and highly complex concept. No category of development is more affected by sustainability than Brownfield development. However, sustainable development rarely extends beyond platitudes offered by those who favor any economically viable reuse at the outset.
For example, EPA suggests that Brownfields are good development locations because they have infrastructure (sewer, water, roads) in place and are more accessible to mass transportation. The reality is that many Brownfield sites contain obsolete and impaired infrastructure that must be upgraded or replaced entirely. EPA also suggests that the most ideal site for a Green building is a Brownfield. However, without green solutions to exterior “site” problems, conditions existing around the building will eventually become interior problems, no matter how sophisticated the Green building.
This paper evaluates some practical considerations to sustainable development of Brownfield sites with respect to the changing regulatory, economic and social conditions.
