[CPEO-BIF] EPA Releases Documentary Film on success story for Environmental Justice Progra]

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

EPA Releases Documentary Film on success story for Environmental Justice
Program

Contact: Roxanne Smith (202-564-4455 / smith.roxanne@epa.gov)

For Immediate Release:  June 14, 2007

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will premiere a documentary
film that tells the real-life story of a contaminated, low-income and
minority area in Spartanburg that is being transformed into a livable
and vibrant community.

The film, "Environmental Justice: The Power of Partnerships," will be
shown at 6:30 this evening at the Twitchell Auditorium, Converse College
in Spartanburg, S.C.

A local Spartanburg non profit organization, the ReGenesis Environmental
Justice Partnership, started the project with a $20,000 grant from the
EPA in 1999.  Since that time, the partnership has worked with private
and public organizations to leverage over $166 million in funding.

Since 1999, ReGenesis has worked with government and industry to cleanup
the Arkwright municipal dumpsite, a former fertilizer plant, and six
brownfield sites.  They also demolished 184 old, substandard public
housing units and built more than 500 new, single-family and
multi-family units for rental and home ownership.

"The success of the Spartanburg project will hopefully inspire others to
revitalize their own community," said Granta Nakayama, EPA's Assistant
Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.  "Today's
announcement shows a trifecta of community, industry and government
working together to build a better and brighter environmental future."

"Thanks to the hard work of the ReGenesis Environmental Justice
Partnership, we are witnessing the revitalization of two Superfund sites
and six Brownfield sites into areas where people can live, work, and
play," said Jimmy Palmer, EPA Region 4 Administrator in Atlanta, GA.

This film was produced to educate viewers about EPA's Environmental
Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model which helps communities work
to solve local environmental and public health problems.

The public can obtain free copies of the DVD by calling the National
Service Center for Environmental Publications at 1-800-490-9198.  In
addition, the public can also order copies of EPA's booklet "EPA's
Collaborative Problem-Solving Model" (document #EPA-300-R-06-002), which
can provide information for communities and other stakeholders on how to
address their own environmental justice issues.

For more information about this documentary film, please visit:
http://epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/ej/ejcps-dvd.html




--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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