TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO BROWNFIELDS COMMUNITIES

TAB Projects                                      TAB Status                           Other Projects
 Program Background
Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. Brownfields can be located in urban, suburban, and rural areas. EPA's Brownfields Initiative is an organized commitment to help communities revitalize such properties both environmentally and economically, mitigate potential health risks, and restore economic vitality to areas where brownfields exist.
 Purpose
The Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities (TAB) program has been established as part of EPA's Brownfields Initiative to help communities clean and redevelop properties that have been damaged or undervalued by environmental contamination. The purpose of these efforts is to create better jobs, increase the local tax base, improve neighborhood environments, and enhance the overall quality of life.
 Audience
The aim of the TAB program is to facilitate stakeholder involvement in community brownfields redevelopment efforts, so the main audiences for TAB assistance are community groups, municipal officials, developers, and leaders with lending institutions constituting a secondary audience.
 Program Management
TAB activities will be managed by the five regional Hazardous Substance Research Centers (HSRC) programs. The HSRCs draw upon the technical expertise of faculty at 29 universities throughout the United States. The HSRC program has developed a wide range of new approaches for understanding and cleaning up hazardous waste sites. Many of these new methods offer users significant savings in time and money
 Activities
  • Leadership training. The TAB program will provide leadership training to select brownfields pilot community leaders, focusing on the following topics: community dynamics , the technical side of clean-up activities, interaction with government agencies, neighborhood planning, sustainable economic and land use planning, environmental regulations, clean-up technologies, and risk assessment.
  • Risk assessment. Each center will provide local government planners, developers and community members with one risk assessment training session that builds knowledge of the basic mechanisms and protocols of risk assessment. Topics will include site inventory, characterization, end use, and environmental quality requirements as part of the measurement of risk.
  • Brownfields processes. Workshops will be provided in each region that walks a variety of stakeholders through the entire brownfield redevelopment process, tailoring subject matter to local requirements and interests.
  • Site assessment. Workshops will be conducted in each region to help community leaders and local government environmental professionals develop a better understanding of site assessment principles. These sessions will focus on integration of the assessment with land use decisions and a provide information about the acceptable tools for data collection.
  • Cleanup alternatives. Local government officials, developers, and environmental/planning professionals will be traught to use appropriate technology for sustainable land use.
 Program Scope
Current funding for the fiscal year 1998 allows four communities to receive TAB assistance in each of the HSRC five regions.

 Regional Program Contact   National Program Contact

Regional Program Contact:
Mr. William Librizzi
TAB Coordinator, Northeast HSRC
CEES
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Newark, New Jersey 07102-1982, USA
Telephone: 973.596.5246
FAX: 973.802.1946
E-mail: librizzi@admin.njit.edu

  Nigel Fields, Program Assistant
 U.S. EPA (8703) 
 401 M Street SW
 Washington, D.C. 20460 
 Telephone: 202/564-6936 
 Electronic mail: FIELDS.NIGEL@epamail.epa.gov