[CPEO-BIF] Minnesota brownfields

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

From brownfields to greenfields: No easy transition


By Marlys Harris
MinnPost (MN)
March 15, 2013

Every once in a while, I am reminded that the messes we humans make  
can be really hard to clean up.

In the past, the context was my sons' rooms. Until they left for  
college, I would just rake everything into a corner and hope for the  
best.

But Thursday, when I attended a forum called "Brownfields to Parks,"  
the thought took on a vastly broader scope. Brownfields, FYI, are  
stretches of land that have become contaminated by hazardous  
industrial waste and chemicals.  Not so hazardous that they are  
Superfund sites, which only the sturdiest cockroaches can survive,  
but places that need some clean-up before they can be reused. If you  
take take even a short drive around town, you'll spot them  
immediately: abandoned factories, commercial buildings or rail yards,  
or the sites of former dry-cleaning stores or gas stations.

For the past 20 years or so, there's been an effort underway to  
redevelop such land. "Before, we would abandon these places and move  
out to new green land in the suburbs," says Martha Faust, executive  
director of Minnesota Brownfields, a private nonprofit that's been  
promoting the investigation, cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield  
sites.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2013/03/brownfields-greenfields-no- 
easy-transition

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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