Earlier this month Paul Anastas, a Science Advisor to the U.S. EPA as well as the Agency's Assistant Administrator for Research and Development published an article in Environmental Science & Technology regarding a shift in how the EPA will undertake its science research. The EPA has implemented new research policy called "The Path Forward" that promotes sustainability, leverages private sector R & D and integrates expertise across scientific dicaplines and industry sectors. To learn more about the Path Forward your can access full article by clinking here.

February 3, 2012 - 12:00pm eastern

Presentation given by:
Beth Barton, Day Pitney LLP
David Hurley, Fuss & O'Neill, Inc.
Robert Bell, CT DEEP

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In 2011, in response to the urging of the development community, the Connecticut legislature unanimously passed, and Governor Malloy signed into law, Public Act No. 11-141, creating a new Brownfields Remediation and Revitalization Program. This program - frequently referred to as the Section 17 Program - can go a long way toward making a significant dent in the logjam preventing the return of many of Connecticut's brownfields to productive reuse. Once accepted into the program, an applicant, acquiring a property needing investigation and remediation because of historical activities, will have no obligation to investigate and remediate off-site impacts due to those activities. If an applicant implements a plan addressing on-site conditions only, that applicant is relieved of any liability for off-site impacts and also any third party claims under state law. The Section 17 Program provides important liability relief and protection as well as a clear path forward. An applicant can still apply for brownfields funding under existing state programs.

This webinar is an opportunity to learn how Connecticut's new Brownfields Program works and is working. Topics covered will include who's eligible, what's required to apply, what's the role of the agencies, what are the benefits of the program, and what's the process once accepted.

Nette Compton, City of New York Parks Department
Eric Rothstein, Vita Nuova LLC
December 2, 2011

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NYC Parks is embarking on a more robust and well-coordinated effort in employing sustainable design into its work. This work is codified in the High Performance Landscape Guidelines, published in January of this year. The principles outlines in the document advocate for a systems-based approach to design that requires acknowledgement of the realities of construction and maintenance. This work has been furthered by the Green Infrastructure partnership between Parks and DEP, where DEP will fund Parks to build and maintain green infrastructure in the right of way to address New York City's CSO issues. This talk will include an outline of the Guidelines content and intention, as well as a review of the green infrastructure work that exemplifies the document.

October 28, 2011 - 12:00pm eastern

Presentation given by:
Christopher Choi, USEPA & Jim Rocco, Vita Nuova LLC

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Whether to help address community challenges such as vacant properties, food deserts, neighborhood crime, and unemployment rates, or just to better connect residents with what they put on their plates, interest in building farms as part of the urban landscape is growing. The idea is simple enough: taking vacant or underused lots to grow healthy food. Therefore, it is not surprising that this concept has appeal to a diverse range individuals and organizations with farming knowledge, skills and experience, or a lack of them, to match.

While urban farms may share the basic process requirements of traditional agriculture, there are also many elements that are unique to urbanized areas that will require attention such as local zoning, neighborhood crime, utility access, and storage/refrigeration space. Individuals and organizations will improve their ability to establish a successful, economically sustainable urban farm if these and other issues are acknowledged and planned for up front.

Through funding from U.S. EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, EPA Region 5, along with Vita Nuova and SRA International, worked with Toledo CDC, Lucas County Improvement Corporation, and other local partners to facilitate the redevelopment of a 2-acre brownfield site into the Fernwood Growing Center. The Fernwood Growing Center's goal was to reclaim a vacant parcel of land, and turn it into productive use by providing a source of and educating the local population on fresh fruits and vegetables. To help the Fernwood Growing Center realize their goal, we help them develop a business plan to guide the process and cost of starting it up and maintaining it.

The Urban Farm Business Plan Handbook provides a framework for any organization or community interested in developing an urban farm to help address neighborhood blight, food access, or community development challenges on brownfields or vacant sites. The handbook provides guidance on how to assemble marketing, operating, and financial strategies to communicate your urban farm project to potential partners and funders along with worksheets to help identify and address the issues important to the development of these strategies.

Presentation will be given by:
Karin Holland, Haley & Aldrich, Deborah Taege, The Boeing Company

During the past few years, significant breakthroughs have occurred in the sustainable remediation field, enabling more and more remediation project teams to effectively incorporate sustainable practices during remedy selection and implementation. However, the methodologies employed when integrating sustainability considerations have generally been inconsistent, caused in part by the lack of a broad ranging, widely applicable sustainable remediation framework. As a result, remediation project teams evaluating the sustainability of projects may find it difficult to compare sustainability attributes between diverse remediation sites. Additionally, regulatory agency personnel have not been provided a consistent approach to include, validate, and incorporate sustainability into their decision making.

A flexible framework for incorporating sustainability into the remedial action process has therefore been developed by the Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF). The framework integrates sustainable concepts throughout the remediation project life cycle while ensuring long-term protection of human health and the environment. The framework is relevant to sites of varying size and complexity and is complementary to existing regulatory frameworks. The present will provide an overview of the SURF framework and applicable case studies to illustrate framework applications.

The Raritan River Collaborative has released their news bulletin for July 2011. As part of New Jersey's Sustainable Raritan River Initiative, members of the Raritan River Collaborative work together to achieve the highest quality for the waters and riparian areas of the Raritan River basin. Highlights of this news issue include information concerning nominations for the second annual New Jersey Section American Water Resources Association's Excellence in Water Resources Portection and Planning Award, the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions grant award, and local projects, festivals, and important notices and updates. To read the full article, click here.

The US Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF) has created a new framework for integrating sustainability into remediation projects. This framework enables sustainability parameters to be integrated and balanced throughout the remediation project life cycle, while ensuring long-term protection of human health and the environment and achieving public and regulatory acceptance.

To read more about the SURF framework, click here

Vita Nuova will be hosting a Sustainability Series webinar on this topic on September 30, 2011 - click here for more information.

Below are a series of pictures showing the progress of the June Key Delta Center Project, subject of the January 2010 Sustainability Series Webinar. Click here to view the recording of that webinar.

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Consistent with its role as convener and connector, The Horinko Group's Water Division will host its Second Annual Water Resources Summit entitled, Sustaining Our Nation's Water Resources - Answering the Call for Stewardship, this coming October 25 on the campus of the Univeristy of Maryland. This year's Summit provides a new context for thinking and problem solving, bringing a wide array of perspectives into the water conversation. Experts from various water backgrounds will discuss their programs, with emphasis on revealing best practices, toughest obstacles, and most innovative strategies to overcoming one of our nation's most challenging issues - the security of our common water future.

A networking reception follows the Summit, providing the unique opportunity for participants to meet those intimately involved in the water world. This event promises to establish a mark for what's taking place today and what's being planned for tomorrow. To view the Summit Program in its entirety and for registration, please visit: www.2011summit.thehorinkogroup.org

For the full press release, click here

Presentation by:
Sara Russell, USEPA
Patricia Beard, National City, CA
Jim Rocco, Vita Nuova LLC

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The Westside Neighborhood is a primarily low-income, minority, urban neighborhood, wholly contained within the incorporated limits of National City, California. National City has a population of approximately 61,000 and is located five miles south of San Diego and nine miles north of Mexico. Over the past 50 years, the Westside neighborhood has evolved from a primarily residential neighborhood to include a significant number of industrial uses, mainly auto body-related, in and around homes and an elementary school. Neighborhood residents have the highest incidence of asthma in the county, which they attributed to the incompatible mix of land uses. With approximately 389 polluters per square mile, the Westside Neighborhood has begun the process of re-envisioning their neighborhood as a healthy and affordable place to live.

In order to accomplish this goal, National City recently revised its zoning code to incorporate the Westside Specific Land Use Plan, focused on the Westside Neighborhood. The revised zoning resulted in a number of properties in the Westside area where the current land use does not conform to the revised zoning. This webinar will discuss the unique tool that uses a multi-step decision-making process to address nonconforming uses in a transparent manner. This tool is central to helping the City and the Westside Neighborhood begin the process of transforming their neighborhood.

Click here to download the Presentation Slides

The May Sustainability Series webinar will be a presentation of the PREPARED workbook, developed in USEPA New England Region. This revolutionary workbook is designed to help government entities facilitate the cleanup and revitalization of contaminated properties. Built around a risk management framework, the workbook utilizes worksheets to help municipalities identify potential obstacles to redevelopment and evaluate appropriate actions to address potential risks and liabilities to move properties forward toward redevelopment.

This workbook will be important for individuals associated with government entities and project managers, environmental consultants, and other working with government entities to facilitate the redevelopment process.

You can now download the PREPARED Workbook here: http://www.epa.gov/ne/brownfields/prepared/index.html

Presentation will be given by:
John Podgurski, Land Revitalization Coordinator, USEPA Region 1- Primary Author
Rona Gregory, Senior Assistant Regional Counsel, Lead Legal Author Counsel
Jim Rocco, Risk Management Consultant, Vita Nuova LLC, Supporting Author