Older industrial communities- especially those of the Great Lakes region- are saddled with not only a disproportionate number of brownfields, but also with silt-choked harbors and rivers, many of which are laced with contaminated sediments. Swim advisories, fish consumption warnings, and the general negative stigma associated with industrial waterfronts hinder development opportunities and stymie economic growth.
Seeking to restore both environmental quality and economic prosperity to the region, EPA Great Lakes Protection Office, EPA Brownfields, and EPA Region 5 collaborated to organize a meeting of brownfields experts, developers, and state environmental officials in Chicago on July 16, 2009. The overarching goal of the meeting, Harnessing the Great Lakes Legacy Act for Environmental Improvement and the Revitalization of Waterfront Properties, was to come up with creative ways to finance environmental restoration and sediment cleanup in Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs).
Primarily located in the rivers and harbors of historic industrial communities, AOCs are characterized by contaminated water bodies and contaminated sediments that constitute "impairments to any one of 14 beneficial uses (e .g., restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption, dredging activities, or drinking water consumption) associated with these areas.
Under the Great Lakes Legacy Act, the EPA will contribute up to 65 percent of the cost to entities (e.g., states, municipalities, private parties) engaging in AOC remediation activities. To help the non-federal entities raise their 35 percent share, brownfields redevelopment specialists spent much of the daylong meeting working with participants to marry land-side development opportunities to sediment remediation.
A research project completed in 2008 by the Northeast-Midwest Institute helped set the tone for the meeting. Under the leadership of Evans Paul, and funded by the Great Lakes Protection Fund, the two-year study identified creative financing mechanisms that municipalities can use to pay for AOC remediation activities. Several possible revenue streams were outlined in the study, but the research primarily focused on tying landside development to aquatic restoration through the use of Tax Increment Financing and Special Assessment Districts. The project's co-researcher, Greg Lewis, presented portions of the study at the July 16 meeting and discussed with the group how some older industrial communities have realized significant economic gains by addressing the negative stigma often associated with urban rivers and harbors and by retooling industrial waterfronts as mixed use development sites.
The complete Innovative Financing for Great Lakes Restoration report and other materials linking economic prosperity in the Great Lakes region to environmental quality can be found at: http://www.emsus.com/gllaworkshop/useful_links.htm
More information, including copies of the presentations from the EPA meeting can be found at: http://www.emsus.com/gllaworkshop/
For more information contact Greg Lewis, glewis@nemw.org, 202-464-4005 | 
