As the close of calendar year 2009 is upon us, it is an important time to reflect on the state of environmental policy for the nation and the world. This cannot be a reflection that excludes the national and international issues impacting our environment, such as the spread of nuclear weapons, conflicts in Afghanistan and Iran, and our turbulent economy. The economy is a major agenda item for all levels of government, and will be for some time into the future. The interconnectedness of world economies means increasingly that all nations share the impacts for economic downturns. For environmental professionals, the past year has had a significant impact on employment for seasoned practitioners, as well as on entry-level positions for college graduates. One area of the environmental profession that is well positioned for future investment and assistance with economic recovery is brownfield redevelopment. This is the second issue in a two-part sequence on brownfields. Because of the interest by professionals in this field, there was a large response to the call for papers. While there are several reasons for this response, one contributing factor involves the future of the environmental profession and its link to the economy. Several outstanding articles in this issue provide that link, as well as examples on what is occurring both in the United States and Europe.

The redevelopment of brownfield sites poses costs due to prior land uses and obsolete structural features, not just real or perceived contamination. Regeneration may require public subsidy, and the process may be further “threatened” by higher standards for building energy efficiency likely to arise with new climate change policies. New structural standards might undermine private reuse of old buildings on cost grounds. This article examines the potential conflict in terms of benefit trade-offs and the distribution of costs and benefits across current and future populations, examining impact assumptions and the approaches taken to risk of failure in emissions reduction, especially with regard to irreversible impacts. Two examples of pursuit of both objectives are considered: land-use planning and densification, including contaminated-land reuse; and new building standards and financing for retrofitting older structures for energy efficiency. It concludes that the conflicts are overstated and that complementarities are stronger, especially when viewed from a public sector perspective.

Environmental Practice 11:238–244 (2009)

Over the past 30 years nearly every state has implemented a voluntary compliance program (VCP) to encourage development of lightly contaminated and abandoned properties also known as brownfields. Analyses of these policies consists primarily of either case studies or tabulations of site-specific characteristics such as the past, current, and future use of sites enrolled in programs. Often ignored in these analyses are the characteristics of areas surrounding these properties. This oversight is particularly problematic, because many commentators argue that VCPs encourage development in neighborhoods with strong real estate markets and predominantly White and wealthy residents while having little impact on poorer neighborhoods with primarily Black and Hispanic residents where brownfields tend to cluster. To date, however, little empirical research supports this claim. This article addresses this need by using tax-lot-level data in conjunction with data from the United States Decennial Census to examine the characteristics of the neighborhoods surrounding New York City properties enrolled in New York State's VCP: the Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP). I conclude that, for the city in general, even when controlling for the spatial distribution of brownfield sites, properties enrolled in the BCP are disproportionately located in neighborhoods with wealthier and Whiter residents and high property values. These results, however, obscure significant variability because projects cluster in a range of communities.

Environmental Practice 11:245–255 (2009)

The presence of brownfields has become a major soil-related problem the world over. Brownfields are found not only in the United States but in every industrialized country and region. In the European Union (EU), a consensus is growing that the redevelopment of former industrial sites can play an important role in the revitalization of certain neighborhoods and areas and in the creation of new industrial sites. This article offers a survey of the recent developments in the European policy regarding brownfield remediation. The best-known attempt for an overall framework law for soil is the Proposal for a Soil Framework Directive. Unexpectedly, this proposal was blocked in 2007 by several countries and seems to be now at a dead end. However, the absence of a community legislation focused specifically on soil protection does not mean that there are no other relevant legal documents regarding the remediation of brownfields. On the contrary, for example, the Environmental Liability Directive is of prime importance for brownfield remediation throughout Europe. Other relevant and interesting legal documents are the Environmental Crime Directive, the European Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection, and the new Waste Framework Directive. This legal framework is constantly evolving. Therefore, it is important to follow up this development. Brownfield redevelopment in the EU will be a major challenge for policy makers in the near future.

Environmental Practice 11:256–262 (2009)

It is important to evaluate use of urban-proximate outdoor recreation sites by diverse groups and obtain visitor viewpoints about those sites. Of particular importance are day-use sites, which receive a large amount of use but little research emphasis. Managers of urban-proximate day-use sites can better manage with detailed specific information about participation patterns, site preferences, and visitor perceptions. Results are offered from visitor contact surveys conducted at day-use sites on four urban national forests in Southern California between 2001 and 2004, with a focus on areas where Latinos recreate. These data indicate many similarities among the Latino visitors to specific sites in four Southern California forests. There were commonalities in participation in outdoor recreation activities, the relative importance of site attributes, and perceptions reported about their recreation experiences. The results suggest that management decisions about serving these groups consider the range of activity options identified, that there is a consistent desire for facilities and amenities, and that the Latino visitors are likely to continue to recreate in these places and will tell others about it, probably leading to increased use by these respondent groups in the future.

Environmental Practice 11:263–269 (2009)

Using author-collected data, this article examines state brownfield programs' activities in relation to liability abatement and financial cost reduction. The findings in this article show that states have very diverse mechanisms in place for the facilitation of the remediation and redevelopment of these properties—many of which have the potential for some serious unanticipated consequences.

Environmental Practice 11:270–284 (2009)

The state of brownfield remediation and rehabilitation approaches continues to advance significantly, particularly with respect to the types of brownfield technologies available for assessing and treating contaminants. However, largely absent is a structured means for integrating the objectives of multiple stakeholders (e.g., municipality, developer, regulator, community) comprehensively by using a classification method that can differentiate among the brownfields based on an overall suite of relevant characteristics—such as community issues, site characteristics, development potential, and financial viability—and analyze them categorically. Existing brownfield scoring schemes, ranking methods, and identification approaches that were developed in the past by various organizations can be used as classification mechanisms, but many of these systems are designed for a specific group of stakeholders or jurisdictions and cannot be used to evaluate situations outside their intended original use. Nevertheless, they provide useful starting points to consider what the desirable elements are within a comprehensive classification system. This article reviews 12 contemporary brownfield classification systems and analyzes their strengths and weaknesses. It concludes that the lack of a multidisciplinary approach in the development of the existing classification systems limits their use on a broader scale. Lastly, the article establishes the need for a broader multidisciplinary classification system that can serve as a basic framework for systematic decision making regarding brownfields.

Environmental Practice 11:285–300 (2009)

This article highlights the key actions implemented by Minnesota to address issues related to brownfields and focuses on a number of key legislative and state agency actions that began in the 1980s. The article acknowledges that many of the brownfield actions taken by the Minnesota legislature and state government agencies would not have taken place—as they did or when they did—if it were not for the efforts and contributions made by dozens of individuals and other public, private and non-profit organizations. The article emphasizes that the actions taken by the Minnesota legislature and the brownfield programs in the state have been very successful at encouraging private and public parties to buy, invest, sell and redevelop brownfields. However, the article further states that there are still many brownfields in Minnesota that have not yet been addressed, and that challenges still exist. It is important to recognize past contributions and accomplishments, but even more important to support and strengthen existing programs that encourage new initiatives.

Environmental Practice 11:301–310 (2009)

As Congress begins to entertain proposals to reauthorize the Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Program, local governments will be paying particular attention to one issue: a proposed amendment to grant public agencies greater liability protection when they acquire contaminated property. Supporters contend that cities play a unique role in brownfield redevelopment—acquiring, cleaning up, and repositioning properties that are unlikely to attract private investment either because of depressed neighborhood conditions or because the properties are being held off the market by corporate mothballing practices. Current federal law offers minimal and confusing liability protection for these activities, and the result is that many cities pass over brownfield acquisitions for fear of engendering environmental liability. Those cities that proceed with brownfield acquisitions are rolling the dice in favor of community revitalization but also argue that federal law should be more protective. To rectify these issues, several states have adopted liability reforms that establish a more “causation based” liability scheme for local government acquisitions. A number of groups are advocating for similar reforms at the federal level. Acquisition of contaminated land by public entities is also often complicated by the complexities involved in eminent domain. First, if the acquiring agency lacks the authority to gain access to the site and cannot perform a site assessment prior to taking possession, fiscal concerns are heightened because cleanup costs will not be taken into account in determining fair market value. Secondly, the acquiring agency may not be allowed to deduct cleanup costs from fair market value, so the locality will, in effect, pay twice for cleanup costs. This article explores the statutory issues related to public agency acquisitions, focusing particularly on state reforms and exploring whether particular state liability reforms might serve as a model for a federal liability reform.

Environmental Practice 11:311–319 (2009)

In 2008, the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation funded the Northern West Virginia (WV) Brownfields Assistance Center (i.e., the Center) to create a mini-grant program that encourages brownfield redevelopment in West Virginia. The Center's Foundation for Overcoming Challenges and Utilizing Strengths (FOCUS) WV Brownfields program enables communities to cultivate and implement a redevelopment vision for brownfield properties of strategic community interest. This article describes the FOCUS WV Brownfields program and provides examples of three projects that demonstrate creative and collaborative means toward brownfield redevelopment in West Virginia.

Today we are living in a “go green” society where citizens recognize that the impact of what they eat, wear, and buy affects the earth. The terms green, sustainable, and eco-friendly have become buzzwords and hot topics in today's popular culture. Different variations of carbon-footprint calculators may be found on the Internet for individuals to use in order to determine how their lifestyle choices impact the earth. Companies hand out promotional canvas bags and reusable metal water bottles to persuade the public to reuse rather than to perpetuate consumption. So let's face it—it's hip to be green. Yet, as increased awareness of the drastic world climate change grows, we begin to realize that we need to not only make better personal decisions, but also alter how we build and plan for the future. The desire to build and live in an environmentally friendly way has planners, developers, architects, and government officials making sustainability standards a top priority when designing cities and neighborhoods for future development.

The term brownfield has an expansive definition for rehabilitation and redevelopment in the state of Michigan. Brownfield redevelopment in Michigan is supported through state legislation that provides significant incentives to developers who redevelop not only contaminated properties but also functionally obsolete or blighted properties as defined by statute. Each municipality is enabled by legislation to create a brownfield authority that can approve two main brownfield incentives: a Michigan business tax (MBT) credit that is available for up to 20% of eligible capital expenses and tax-increment financing (TIF) that reimburses the developer for costs associated with brownfield redevelopment such as environmental remediation and infrastructure.