Webinar: Smart Growth and Economic Success - Sep 18, 3-4PM EDT

On September 18, 3:00-4:00 Eastern, Dr. Kramer will lead a second webinar on Smart Growth and Economic Success to explore how smart growth strategies at the regional, city, and neighborhood level can maximize economic advantages while creating attractive, healthy communities that help protect the environment. Dr. Kramer will discuss the report, Smart Growth and Economic Success: Benefits for Real Estate Developers, Investors, Businesses, and Local Government, and speakers from Lehigh Valley, PA, Champaign, IL, and Phoenix, AZ will discuss how smart growth is helping their communities prosper.
 
Webinar Details

• No pre-registration is required.
• Click on https://epa.connectsolutions.com/epasmartgrowth. Log in as a guest.
• Please test your computer before attending the meeting at http://admin.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm
• The Connection Test checks your computer to make sure all system requirements are met. If you pass the first three steps of the test, then you are ready to participate in a meeting. If you do not pass the test, perform the suggested actions and run the test again.
• Please allow adequate time to access the site. If there are a large number of participants, it may take more time for the program to respond.
• There is no conference call. Participants will hear the webinar through their computer speakers. Please check to be sure your speakers are turned on.

WEBINAR: Smart Growth #1 - July 24, 2-3PM Eastern

Join EPA's Smart Growth Program on Wednesday, July 24, 2:00-3:00 Eastern to discuss Our Built and Natural Environments -- how development affects human health and the environment, and land use and transportation strategies that can yield better environmental results. Dr. Melissa Kramer will provide an overview of the report, Our Built and Natural Environments: A Technical Review of the Interactions among Land Use, Transportation, and Environmental Quality. John Frece, director of EPA's Office of Sustainable Communities, will discuss how the report can be helpful to communities that are considering how and where to build. 

Webinar Details

• No pre-registration is required.
• Click on https://epa.connectsolutions.com/epasmartgrowth. Log in as a guest.
• Please test your computer before attending the meeting at http://admin.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm
• The Connection Test checks your computer to make sure all system requirements are met. If you pass the first three steps of the test, then you are ready to participate in a meeting. If you do not pass the test, perform the suggested actions and run the test again.
• Please allow adequate time to access the site. If there are a large number of participants, it may take more time for the program to respond.
• There is no conference call. Participants will hear the webinar through their computer speakers. Please check to be sure your speakers are turned on.

EPA's Our Built and Natural Environments: A Technical Review of the Interactions among Land Use, Transportation, and Environmental Quality

EPA recedntly released its most comprehensive review to date on how the built environment – the way we build our cities and towns – directly affects our environment and public health. The report was announced by EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe during a national Twitter Town Hall meeting in Washington, DC with Maurice Jones, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing, and Development (HUD), and John Porcari, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities.
The publication, Our Built and Natural Environments: A Technical Review of the Interactions among Land Use, Transportation, and Environmental Quality, provides evidence that certain kinds of land use and transportation strategies – where and how we build our communities – can reduce the environmental and human health impacts of development.
“Although findings might differ on the magnitude of the effects of different practices, the evidence is overwhelming that some types of development yield better environmental results than others,” the report concludes.
The publication is important and timely for understanding the most environmentally responsible way to develop as our nation’s population grows over the next half century and beyond.

Read the press release.
Learn about the webinar.

EPA issues Report on State #Brownfield and Voluntary Cleanup Programs

 The report, State #Brownfields and Voluntary Response Programs 2013, has been released by EPA.  “Cleaning up contamination is vitally important to the physical health of America’s communities, but putting clean land back into productive use brings with it a range of social and economic benefits that will strengthen those communities for years to come. State response programs with support from CERCLA 128(a) funding are able to oversee assessment and cleanup activities at the majority of brownfields properties across the country. These accomplishments are as varied, as they are widespread. This report captures these successes and showcases them in a user friendly format.”
– Mathy Stanislaus, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER)is available at http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/state_tribal/2013_brownfields_state_report_508_web_050913.pdf.