[CPEO-BIF] Revitalizing Communities and the Environment

[Vanessa Kauffman <vkauffman@wildlifehc.org>]

Revitalizing Communities and the Environment

The Wildlife Habitat Council has entered in a cooperative agreement with
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (OSWER) and Office of Underground Storage Tanks
(OUST). Under the agreement, WHC will develop information about the
latest understanding of applying ecological enhancements in site
remediation. The goal is to demonstrate how federal, state and local
agencies, industry and community groups can use ecological enhancements
at contaminated sites. These ecological enhancements will prepare the
sites for a variety of reuses, including wildlife habitat.

These cooperative agreements stemmed from the highly successful series
of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) conferences over the
past 3 years. WHC will now focus on expanding this program by
implementing the Objectives and Action Agenda for Implementing
Ecological Enhancements, which was developed during the 2002 conference,
Restoring Green Space: Using Ecological Enhancements at Superfund, RCRA
and Brownfields Sites. In order to fulfill this agreement WHC has
developed three-year Comprehensive Plans to address the different
components of the Action Agenda. In addition, regional Workshops will be
planned over the next three years. A Steering Committee will be
assembled during the next month to aid in developing the content and
agenda for the workshops.

Explore more online with the newly developed section "Land Restoration"
via www.wildlifehc.org/brownfields/index.cfm. Explore the resource
directory, event section and newsletter. The newsletter will focus on
the incorporation of ecological enhancements at waste and Leaking
Underground Storage Tank (LUST) sites. Members and other stakeholders
can sign-up online to receive it via e-mail.

On May 15-15, WHC hosted a Technical Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland.
WHC coordinated the meeting in partnership with Interstate Regulatory
Technology Council, EPA Technology Innovation Office, Environmental
Council of the States and Association of State, Territorial Solid Waste
Management Officials and various WHC members. This small group of
recognized experts will produce a white paper presenting the best
scientific consensus of the latest innovative/alternative remediation
technologies and success stories. The paper, available online after the
conference, will present legitimate alternatives to traditional
remediation processes, allowing the incorporation of ecological
enhancements as integral components of the remediation process.

In order to encourage the reuse of abandoned properties contaminated
with petroleum from underground storage tanks (USTs), EPA OUST created
the USTfields Initiative in 2000. WHC will be selecting three waste
sites and three USTfields over the next nine months to serve as pilot
sites for this project. USTfields are abandoned or underused industrial
and commercial properties where revitalization is complicated by real or
perceived environmental contamination from underground storage tanks.

The purpose of the pilots is to demonstrate the alternatives that will
be presented in the white paper from the May technical meeting. In
addition to the pilots, WHC will also be posting case studies of sites
that have incorporated or are planning to incorporate ecological
enhancements as part of the land restoration design.

WHC encourages all of its members to participate in this new program. If
you have any questions, would like more information or would like to
contribute/participate, please contact Heloisa Schmidt at
hschmidt@wildlifehc.org. We are particularly looking for key corporate
contacts who would participate in the project sharing-committee and help
shape the content of the Regional Workshops.

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