October 16, 2002 — Brownfields are defined as abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has primary authority and responsibility for identifying and cleaning up contaminated sites, opportunities to provide local communities assistance in revitalizing brownfield communities extend to the entire federal family. NOAA partnered with EPA to address brownfields redevelopment (at both national and local levels) and to balance environmental and economic needs and benefits.

Local communities surrounding Brownfield sites often see higher unemployment rates, lower property values and an increase in health problems. Furthermore, these abandoned properties can force new development to the fringe of existing urban areas, often resulting in urban sprawl and degradation of natural resources (e.g., reduced air and water quality).

Many of the nation's coastal communities bear the scars of past economic booms as former industrial sites along ports, harbors and other coastal areas now lay abandoned. Although redeveloping these brownfields could economically and visually revitalize numerous urban waterfronts, developers have few incentives to invest in these blighted areas. NOAA, on the other hand, sees their redevelopment as a unique opportunity to revitalize coastal areas using existing infrastructure and transportation modes, while preserving valuable green space and restoring natural resources. Brownfields clean up and redevelopment can improve public access to the waterfront, improve the quality of nearshore habitat and open fisheries that were closed due to contamination concerns.

NOAA Offices Involved in Brownfield Activities
Thousands of brownfields sites remain where industries were historically located along waterways. Cleaning up and redeveloping coastal brownfields expands local economies, improves public access to the coast, restores coastal natural resources and revitalizes waterfronts. NOAA’s experience in solving critical environmental challenges, combined with its role as the nation’s primary coastal stewardship agency, make it uniquely qualified to address brownfield issues in the nation’s coastal communities.

Since 1997, the Department of Commerce and NOAA have contributed funding, facilitation and/or technical expertise at coastal brownfields sites in New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois, Alaska, California and other states. Specifically, the following four NOAA offices assisted coastal communities regarding brownfield issues:

• NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration protects and restores contaminated coastal resources and habitats (including brownfields) by first assessing and evaluating risks and then implementing cost-effective environmental cleanup and restoration solutions.
  
• NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, in its implementation of the Coastal Zone Management Act, provides funding to coastal states for brownfields redevelopment as part of waterfront revitalization efforts.
  
• NOAA’s Office of Sustainable Development and Intergovernmental Affairs has provided funding to and sponsored workshops for coastal cities (both small and large) to assist them in more thoroughly planning their brownfields redevelopment activities.
  
• NOAA’s Coastal Services Center helps develop the expertise of coastal resource professionals by giving them the tools to engage communities in land and water issues, including the redevelopment of brownfields. Through Center-led workshops, planners and managers build valuable skills to help local governments collaborate with the public and manage conflict.

NOAA’S Brownfield Activities
Together these four NOAA offices actively support the National Brownfields Initiative by: 1) participating in EPA’s Brownfields Showcase Community Program, 2) signing cooperative NOAA/EPA Memorandums of Understanding pertaining to brownfield issues, 3) application of NOAA’s Coastal Zone Management Act and Superfund Mandate and 4) supporting brownfields redevelopment through the Smart Growth Network:

1) NOAA’s Participation in EPA’s Brownfields Showcase Community Program
NOAA works with other agencies to achieve its goals in cleaning up and revitalizing brownfields. This occurs either on a case-by-case basis as opportunities are identified or through a highly structured program, such as EPA’s Brownfields Showcase Communities program. Once a Showcase Community has been selected, it receives coordinated federal assistance from all relevant agencies. As a result, the Showcase Community receives the resources and technical expertise needed to revitalize once idle and blighted land and serves as a model for community-based clean up and redevelopment at other brownfield communities. NOAA has been working in coastal brownfield communities to provide advice on cleaning up and restoring contaminated coastal areas and to sponsor local workshops focusing on brownfields restoration, revitalizing waterfronts, and redeveloping sites through effective coastal zone management. Workshops conducted in Glen Cove, N.Y., Providence, R.I., Stanford, Conn., and East Palo Alto, Calif., successfully brought together federal, state and local officials to discuss brownfield issues in these coastal areas. The workshops also provided an opportunity to further define the role of NOAA and state CZM programs in the brownfields initiative.

To follow are detailed descriptions of three coastal communities that are successfully resolving brownfield issues with assistance from NOAA (i.e., New Bedford, Mass., Glen Cove, N.Y., and Metlakatla, Alaska):

• New Bedford, Mass., serves as an excellent example of the redevelopment issues faced by many coastal communities (i.e., a depressed economy, contaminated harbors and nearby waterways, and acres upon acres of brownfields sites occupying once viable city grounds). NOAA has delivered environmental solutions to contaminant problems in New Bedford since the late 1980s, beginning with the New Bedford Harbor Superfund site. With NOAA’s help, New Bedford became a Brownfields Showcase Community in 2000, and NOAA is still helping to restore New Bedford today. NOAA’s ORR has placed a brownfields coordinator in the community to support the local Brownfields task force in the following areas: assess and safely clean up coastal contamination to revitalize New Bedford’s environment and economy; promote the compatible and sustainable use of coastal areas for New Bedford urban fisheries, port and industrial activities, recreation, and tourism; give New Bedford access to the Department of Commerce and other federal programs that fund economic redevelopment and training programs; train New Bedford communities (along with local and state agencies) to assess, clean up and redevelop Brownfields; plan and implement environmental restoration; and use decision-making database and mapping tools. The New Bedford Brownfields task force has now developed a prioritized list of Brownfields sites. The city has successfully redeveloped some of these sites and is working with NOAA and other stakeholder groups to facilitate clean up and redevelopment of additional priority sites — some of which have already been cleaned up and redeveloped.
  
• Glen Cove, N.Y., is a small city located on the north shore of Long Island. Parks, public beaches, nature preserves and private homes span eight miles of the city’s shoreline. However, most of the remaining one mile of shoreline — the historically industrialized Glen Cove Creek waterfront — is comprised of contaminated, abandoned and underused properties (i.e., two federal Superfund sites, a New York State Inactive Hazardous Waste site and a number of brownfields). In addition to the abandoned properties, the city was also faced with a waterway that hadn't been dredged in 30 years, crumbling bulkheads, and non-point source pollution and sediment that was entering the creek unabated. As a result, the Glen Cove Creek Waterfront Revitalization Plan was developed in 1993 to address the clean up and redevelopment of 214 acres of the waterfront. In 1997, the city received a Brownfields Pilot Grant from EPA and in 1998 Glen Cove was designated a Brownfields Showcase Community by the Brownfields National Partnership.
  
  Both NOAA’s SDIA and OCRM (in collaboration with the New York State Coastal Management Program) assisted in developing and implementing the Glen Cove Creek Waterfront Revitalization Plan by supporting several annual “Commitment to Action” workshops (from 1995 to 1999). These workshops brought together federal, state and local partners to focus support on implementing this plan. In the end, the workshops provided a roadmap for the community’s vision; helped the city understand the role and jurisdiction of various players; identified technical expertise and additional funding resources; and assisted in establishing long-term partnerships between relevant local, state and federal agencies.
  
  NOAA’s ORR also continues to provide technical assistance during Glen Cove’s revitalization efforts. Specifically, ORR worked with the city (as well as EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and others) to plan clean up actions and habitat restoration along Glen Cove Creek. NOAA provided the technical support needed to clean up two Superfund sites on the creek and is working with partners to integrate habitat restoration and natural resource recovery into this effort.

  To date, the private development that has resulted includes the opening of a new restaurant near a waterfront, the expansion of several marinas, a high speed ferry service to Manhattan and future plans for another ferry service to Connecticut. The city is also soliciting for a hotel, conference center and mixed use development for one of the Brownfields properties.

• Metlakatla, Alaska, is a small Native American fishing community in the southeastern part of Alaska. Facilities run by the military, FAA and Coast Guard released contamination to the environment. As a result, the local population has stopped fishing close to shore for fear of consuming unhealthy fish and shellfish. NOAA’s ORR (in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) conducted a survey of the locally available seafood to see if and how it might be contaminated with harmful substances leaking from the land. The local community also contributed by providing the boats and local guides to help NOAA scientists conduct the survey. NOAA’s SDIA also contributed funding for this effort.

2) NOAA/EPA Bownfields Memorandum of Understanding
Despite these efforts, there is still a need for a more comprehensive approach to dealing with brownfields redevelopment across the nation. Toward this end, NOAA and EPA are drafting a newly revised MOU that empowers NOAA to partner with EPA to comprehensively address brownfields redevelopment (NOAA and EPA originally signed their first brownfields MOU in 1997). The purpose of this MOU is to establish policies and procedures for a general working agreement between EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response and NOAA in support of the National Brownfields Initiative.


3) NOAA’s Coastal Zone Management Act and Superfund Mandates
NOAA, under its Coastal Zone Management Act responsibilities, has a 30-year history of working with coastal states to support effective local planning. Specifically, coastal zone management plans provide a framework for successful economic development and the maintenance of environmental quality at the state and local level. Thirty-three coastal states and territories (covering 99 percent of the nation's ocean and Great Lakes coasts) have approved coastal zone management plans.

NOAA’s responsibilities under the Superfund Act are to protect and restore natural resources. As a natural resource trustee, NOAA provides advice and support to coastal communities and EPA on Brownfields clean up and restoration. ORR is currently providing this support in 28 coastal communities in 15 states.

4) NOAA Supports the Smart Growth Network
NOAA also supports brownfields redevelopment through the Smart Growth Network, a collection of organizations promoting smart growth. Smart growth is an approach that considers environmental, social and economic implications of development. When coastal communities redevelop brownfields, they "strengthen and direct development toward existing communities," which is one of the principles endorsed by the network. In addition, if paired with a land conservation approach, developing brownfields can offset pressure for developing greenfields (such as farms and forests). NOAA, through the Coastal Services Center, is a partner of the Smart Growth Network, which provides information and resources for communities on brownfields redevelopment and other tools to support smart growth.

In the future, NOAA will continue working to expand its activities at coastal Brownfields sites. Activities may include:

• Working with partners to assess and safely clean up coastal contamination to revitalize local economies.
• Promoting the compatible and sustainable use of coastal areas for urban fisheries, port and industrial activities, recreation and tourism.
• Providing access to the Department of Commerce and other federal programs that offer funding and technical assistance for economic redevelopment and training programs.
• Developing and delivering a decision-making database and mapping tools to assist in repairing sites and restoring habitat.
• Training communities and local and state agencies in assessing, cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields; planning and implementing environmental restoration; and using decision-making software tools.
• Lending expertise in advanced marine transportation tools and services that will revitalize communities.
  

Relevant Web Sites
Brownfield Activities by NOAA’s Office of Sustainable Development and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Brownfields to Working Waterfront: New York Helps Revitalize Community’s Coast

Testimony of David A. Sampson, Assistant Secretary for Economic Development. U.S. Department of Commerce. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Wednesday, March 6, 2002.

Revitalizing Local Economies and Improving Quality of Life — General Information about NOAA's Brownfield Activities (PDF)

Revitalizing Local Economies and Improving Quality of Life — Glen Cove, New York (PDF)

Revitalizing Local Economies and Improving Quality of Life — New Bedford, Massachusetts (PDF)

The National Dimension Promoting Sustainable Communities. NOAA sponsored workshops in five coastal communities (PDF)

Smart Growth Network

Media Contact:
Glenda Tyson, NOAA's Ocean Service, (301) 713-3066