EPA Region 1 Releases Clean and Green Policy

EPA's Region 1 Office of Site Remediation and Restoration released a set of goals and policies that outline their approach to all EPA-related cleanups.  The approach emphasizes reducing environmental footprints and follows green remediation goals, where possible.

FoodNYC: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Food System

The Manhattan Borough President, Scott Stringer, released a comprehensive report on New York City's food production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. The report is the result of the December 2009 NYC Food & Climate Summit at NYU and focuses on increasing access to healthy food in underserved neighborhoods and expanding the food economy.

September 25, 2009
Michele Mahoney, USEPA Office of Superfund Remediation & Technology Innovation

Ecological revitalization refers to the process of returning land from a contaminated state to one that supports a functioning and sustainable habitat.  Although the final decision on how a property is reused is inherently a local decision that often rests with the property owner, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actively supports and encourages ecological revitalization, when appropriate, during and after the assessment and cleanup of contaminated properties under its cleanup programs. Ecological revitalization of contaminated properties is consistent with EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment, and it is an integral component of EPA's cleanup programs.  Under its cleanup programs, EPA ensures that (1) ecological revitalization does not compromise the protectiveness of the cleanup and (2) the best interests of stakeholders are considered.  

EPA's cleanup programs have established initiatives that support ecological revitalization and provide a variety of tools, information resources, and technical assistance.  Collaboration and coordination with stakeholders is important for promoting ecological revitalization across EPA's programs.

On June 16, 2009 Administrator Lisa Jackson of EPA, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan announced a new interagency partnership that aims to create more sustainable communities nationwide. The new partnership builds on a previous partnership, announced earlier this year, between DOT and HUD.

On January 11, 2002, President Bush signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Pub. L. 107-118, 115 Stat. 2356, ''the Brownfields Amendments''). The law among other things requires EPA to develop regulations establishing standards and practices for how to conduct all appropriate inquiries.

On August 26, 2004, EPA published a notice of proposed rulemaking outlining proposed standards and practices for the conduct of ''all appropriate inquiries.'' The final rule, which is commonly called AAI, was published by EPA on November 1, 2005. The rule makes reference to ASTM 1527-05 which carries the same November 1, 2005 approval date and was published in mid November 2005. ASTM-05 satisfies AAI and can be used now. The AAI rule also provided a one year transition and states that the existing ASTM Standard 1527-00 can alternatively be used to satisfy AAI until November 1, 2006.