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Greener Cleanups June 27, 2007 Meeting

U.S. EPA Region 5 and Illinois EPA convened a small group of practitioners engaged in site cleanups and sustainable reuse on June 27, 2007 in Chicago. The purpose of the meeting was to explore a new initiative called Greener Cleanups.

Greener cleanups refers to a method of site remediation that makes:

  • the actual cleanup more efficient and less polluting, and
  • results in a site where the development is designed to reduce the environmental impacts of future use.

Attendees

Approximately 30 people attended the meeting in person, with a few additional people participating from time to time by phone.

The attendees represented U.S. EPA Region 3; U.S. EPA Region V; U.S. EPA Headquarters; Illinois EPA; Indiana DEM; Wisconsin DNR; Chicago DOE; environmental attorneys; private developers; not-for-profit developers; and environmental consultants.

Agenda

9:00-9:15 am Welcome and Introductions
  Jim Van der Kloot, U.S. EPA Region 5
  Heather Nifong, Illinois EPA
  David Reynolds, Earth Tech
9:15-9:30 am Project origins - Why greener cleanups?
  Margaret Guerriero, U.S. EPA
  Gary King, Illinois EPA
9:30-9:50 am Case Study: SOS Children's Village
  Kevin Laberge, Chicago Department of Environment
  David Reynolds, Earth Tech
9:50 - 10:10 am N ational Perscpective
  Carlos Pachon, U.S. EPA Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation
10:10 - 10:30 am Sustainability in Remediation Pilot - DuPont Site, Martinsville, VA
  Deborah Goldblum, U.S. EPA Region 3
10:45 am - 12:30 pm Breakout Groups: Regulatory Barriers, Market Barriers, Remedy Selection and the Greener Cleanup Model
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm Breakout Group Summary
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm Conclusion

Next Steps to be Taken by Illinois EPA

  1. Audit "typical" cleanups under the Leaking UST Program and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); removal under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA); and voluntary cleanups under the Site Remediation Program.
  2. Using the information collected from the working meeting and the program audits, identify opportunities for "greening" cleanups for each regulatory program in a matrix or decision tree format.
  3. Graphically summarize how cleanups differ among different programs (regulatory and non-regulatory) and by different types of site owners or remediation applicants (public and private).
  4. Propose how the sequencing of activities could be improved for greater efficiency and environmental benefit graphically and through case studies. Activities to be considered will be within the cleanup itself as well as more broadly applied to the entire site assessment and redevelopment process.
  5. Identify the questions site owners and remediation applicants seeking greener cleanups should ask of their consultants and contractors.
  6. Identify the institutional barriers to implementing greener cleanups.
  7. Develop a recognition program for greener cleanups.