Sunday, December 14, 2014

Is there an EPA Superfund site in your backyard?

December 12, 2014
By Susan Cosier

...About 11 million (click here) people live within one mile of a Superfund site, which is a hazardous waste area slated for cleanup by the federal government. Congress started the Superfund program in 1980, promising to use taxpayer dollars to clean up places where industries like mines, asbestos plants, and chemical companies (Love Canal, anyone?) dumped pollution and then skedaddled or went bankrupt....

This is the original article from National Geographic. They did considerable homework in putting together a quick look at the toxic dumps that continue to remain in the USA.

A Nationwide Cleanup (click here)

By Anna Scalamogna, Jason Treat, and Xaquín G.V., NGM Staff; Meg Roosevelt. Sources: EPA; GAO
Since Congress passed the Superfund law, many of the worst hazardous waste sites in the U.S. have either been cleaned up or brought under control. But hundreds more are works in progress—and 95 of them, says the EPA, may be exposing humans to dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. A depleted Superfund and shrinking appropriations from Congress have delayed cleanup at some sites.
Related story: Wasteland »...
An almost more intriguing clean up fund is called Brownfields. What are Brownfield sites?
Wiki does a pretty good job of defining it: In urban planning, a brownfield site (or simply a brownfield) is land previously used for industrial purposes or some commercial uses. The land may be contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste orpollution, and has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up.
What is the difference? The Superfund is about dumping sites and is more hazardous intensive. A Brownfield is more about industrial sites that have been abandoned and have hazards within the building and/or land because of the industry.
The Association for Redevelopment Initiatives (click here) can explain some of the projects sponsored by federal dollars for reclaiming land and building a new use for it that might entail new businesses and jobs.
Both the Superfund and Brownfields are good opportunities for towns and cities to reclaim their land and where possible reuse it rather than changing the landscape in a significant way. The brownfield sites especially offer incredible places to build new parts of a city because the land is already cleared and have functioned as places that have employed people before.
I think this is an excellent focus for local economies to check the area to be sure there are not toxic dumps to clean up or brownfield sites to be repurposed. Local building contractors and toxic handling companies will bring jobs to the town. 
And if there are huge problems in the town or city, brownfield sites can be something as simple as an unused gas station to turn the corner on redevelopment. These brownfield sites can be defined entirely by the desire to repurpose the land and to reclaim it by cleaning up any old pollution or contamination that makes it unsafe for people.

A brownfield site (click here) is property that was once used for commercial or industrial purposes and is now targeted for redevelopment. Brownfields sites can be abandoned factories, gas stations, oil storage facilities, and other businesses that used polluting substances. Such sites must be cleaned up and determined to be safe from any contamination before they can be reused. State and federal brownfields programs assist developers in safely using former industrial sites for new uses such as shopping areas, parks, and schools.