EPA #Brownfields TAB Grantees Announced

The EPA recently selected a new round of TAB grantees. Building on their previous experience working with communities, and their extensive team of subgrantees, contractors, partners and other network contacts, three new TAB grantees, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Kansas State University (KSU), and the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR), will help communities tackle the challenge of assessing, cleaning up and preparing brownfields sites for redevelopment, especially underserved, rural, small, and otherwise distressed communities. Technical assistance being provided through these grants will help communities across the country move brownfields sites forward in the process toward cleanup and reuse. More information about the TAB grantee providing technical assistance in your area can be found at the following link - http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/tools/index.htm

CCLR will assist the Southern States in Region 4.  Here's a flyer -  http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/pdfs/cclr-fact-sheet2-13-13.pdf

WEBINARS: FY13 Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grant Proposals

The US EPA will be hosting two CLU-IN sessions/webinars for prospective Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training grant applicants on February 28^th and March 7^th from 3:00-5:00 PM eastern time. Please visit the registration link below for additional call-in details.

To register for the CLU-IN, please visit: http://www.clu-in.org/conf/tio/bfjt2013/

 

The Request for Proposals (RFP)/Proposal Guidelines is anticipated to be issued this week. The anticipated deadline for submission of proposals will be April 9, 2013. EPA?s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) will also post Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in the next week or so.

 

For further questions, please contact:

Joseph Bruss

Environmental Justice and Job Training Coordinator

U.S. EPA, Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization

Phone: (202) 566-2772

SB 2147 Passes Unimously in Mississippi Senate

Senate Bill 2147 (http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2013/pdf/history/SB/SB2147.xml ) has moved out of the Mississippi State Senate on a 51-0 vote and has been referred to Mississippi House where an identical bill LAST YEAR (HB1265 - 2012) passed unanimously in the House on a vote of 121-0.

The Mississippi Economic Redevelopment Act has been lauded for its ability to give Mississippi "a competitive redevelopment incentive to successfully entice private sector developers to cleanup and reuse brownfield sites."  SB 2147 includes a provision for removing the December 31, 2009 sunset provision to revive the Act and expanding the definition of “contaminated site” to include all brownfield sites within the State which should allow this economic redevelopment incentive to be utilized statewide.

WEBINAR: Using the 2012 Federal Transportation Bill to Strengthen Rural Economies

Join Transportation for America on Wednesday, February 27th at 1pm Eastern for an online presentation to learn how to use MAP-21 to fund rural transportation priorities and strengthen your community.
Investing in a variety of transportation options -- like public transportation, vanpooling, bicycling, walking and safe roads and bridges -- are crucial for stronger, more resilient communities in our nation's rural areas. It's important to know how our new federal transportation bill (MAP-21) has changed the way communities can access transportation dollars and what these funds can be used for.

Our panelists for this discussion include:

• John Robert Smith, President and CEO, Reconnecting America and Former Mayor of Meridian, MS (moderator)
• Charles W. Fluharty, President and CEO, Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI)
• Chris Zeilinger, Director of Policy Development, Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
• Georgia Gann, Deputy Director of Government Affairs, Transportation for America

For more information and registration, go HERE.

Announcing the call for applications for EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) Program!

The SGIA program focuses on complex or cutting-edge issues, and projects can take about 18 months to complete. These projects explore innovative ideas to overcome barriers that are preventing communities from getting the kind of development they want. Since 2005, the SGIA program has allowed the Office of Sustainable Communities to work with a diverse array of communities from across the country on issues such as stormwater management, code revision, transit-oriented development, affordable housing, infill development, corridor planning, green building, and climate change.

EPA invites applicants to submit proposals under one of these categories (though other ideas are accepted too): 

1. Community Resilience to Disasters and Climate Change

2. Redevelopment for Job Creation

3. The Role of Manufactured and Modular Homes in Sustainable Neighborhood Design

4. Medical and Social Services Facilities Siting

Applications are due on March 1

More information can be found at http://epa.gov/smartgrowth/sgia.htm.

EPA Releases NEW Report on Sustainable Communities

EPA has released a report that offers low-income, minority, tribal, and overburdened communities approaches to shape development that responds to their needs and reflects their values. Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities: Strategies for Advancing Smart Growth, Environmental Justice, and Equitable Development provides a menu of land use and community design strategies community-based organizations, local and regional decision-makers, developers, and others can use to revitalize their communities:

· Facilitate meaningful community engagement in planning and land use decisions
· Promote public health and a clean and safe environment
· Strengthen existing communities
· Provide housing choices
· Provide transportation options
· Improve access to opportunities and daily necessities
· Preserve and build on the features that make a community distinctive

Case studies highlight seven communities that have used these strategies: Edmonston, MD; Chicago, IL; Spartanburg, SC; New Orleans, LA; Ohkay Owingeh, NM; Boston, MA; and Seattle, WA.

The report was developed jointly by the Office of Sustainable Communities and Office of Environmental Justice.

Read the press release.

Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Rules

Source: www.brownfieldassociation.org, Horinko
01/22/13

Purchasers and developers of Brownfields property are anxiously awaiting the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit's decision in the Superfund case, Ashley II of Charleston, LLC v. PCS Nitrogen, Inc., No. 11-1662(L). The two key questions in this matter concern whether the property purchaser should have done or known more about the pre-existing contamination on the property at issue and also whether the purchaser had a prohibited relationship with the seller as evidenced by an agreement concerning cost recovery by the parties as well as efforts to prevent EPA from taking a cost recovery action at the property.... MORE

Mississippi DEQ Publishes 2012 Brownfield Annual Report