Feature
Region 10’s diversity means unique challenges
When describing EPA Region 10, one word seems to repeatedly pop up: diverse.
Take its geography. The region ranges from ocean coastline to rugged mountain ranges, from temperate rainforests to high deserts. Add in Alaska’s Muskeg and Tundra ecosystems, and you’ve got a little bit of everything.
Made up of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, Region 10 is diverse in other ways too. For example, it has more federally recognized tribal governments than any other area of the country. Nowhere else even comes close. Region 10 also has a high number of endangered species, an issue this region has had to address more than any other region. With this diversity comes a broad range of cultural and social issues.
All these factors mean the region has one of the greatest arrays of potential brownfield sites and issues, says Brooks Stanfield, EPA brownfields project manager.
“Don't get me wrong, I think some other regions face similar difficulties, more I'm sure than I can appreciate,” Stanfield says. “But I think our region can boast some degree of distinctiveness in the breadth of what we face.”
Perhaps most distinctive to the region is its wide range in geographical and environmental conditions. Because of this, the timing in getting projects done can be complicated, says Susan Morales, EPA brownfields project manager. Officials are planning projects around such factors as weather conditions, transportation issues and accessibility. When a barge delivers goods to an area only once a month, that can be a major factor in a project. It can be expensive working in some of the more remote areas. The region also has an enormous number of rural communities, which often times don’t have the money or manpower to redevelop a brownfield site.
With the diverse geography comes a region with a rich and varied past, which includes the timber, mining and seafood industries, Morales says. These industries have historic value in their communities. While the region has its share of industrial areas, the West’s industrial history started later. It has a legacy of contamination, but not like some larger metropolitan areas in other parts of the nation, she says.
The region also has a high number of endangered species, which can be an important factor when federal funding is involved. EPA has to consult with other federal natural resource agencies to make sure the project doesn’t harm any member of an endangered species. “We’ve had to work to start to address that, and no other region has had to,” Morales says.
With the high numbers of endangered species, habitat protection is particularly important to this region. Stanfield points to the salmon issue in the Pacific Northwest. The EPA has provided technical assistance and funds to local governments and tribes addressing contamination and restoring habitat along rivers and ocean shorelines, he says.
Morales believes the focus on the environment is more holistic in this region. When redeveloping a brownfield site, returning property to the tax base isn’t the only issue; often, a community is concerned with adding more green space. “They’re a little more progressive on the bigger picture,” Morales says.
Region 10 also has 271 federally recognized tribes. Idaho has four tribes, Oregon has nine, Washington has 29 and Alaska has 229. That’s important because different governments come into play when you add tribal government to the mix, Morales says. A tribe also brings unique cultural concerns, often another language and subsistence issues. All may influence the type of redevelopment that’s needed.
Because some tribes depend on subsistence activities, such as hunting on tribal lands or fishing, they’re more susceptible to exposure to contaminants than non-subsistence communities if the environment from which they gather most of their food is compromised, Stanfield says. “In this regard, rural Alaska presents some really unique challenges because of things like their lack of adequate solid waste disposal systems,” he says. “Problems like this, compounded by their remoteness, present challenges and opportunities for the Region 10 team. Just getting the word out to Alaska communities about what assistance tools we provide is an ongoing effort.”
With the diverse nature of Region 10 comes a diverse group of brownfield projects. The region has its share of urban areas with classic industrial sites. From these sites have come mixed-use, commercial-residential buildings; affordable housing and even new industrial operations. In rural areas, the EPA has worked with gas stations, mill sites and smaller commercial and industrial sites. One former apple orchard in Wenatchee, Wash., was redeveloped into a public park. “We've seen sites get redeveloped into parks and green spaces as well as public buildings, community centers and housing (projects),” Stanfield says.
Some regional examples of brownfields projects include an electroplating facility in Portland that was turned into a mixed-used, commercial and residential building called the Sellwood Lofts. In Caldwell, Idaho, a project is assessing a significant portion of the downtown in an attempt to daylight a creek that was previously buried. The redevelopment vision includes commercial and residential space and public open space that’s all anchored by the day-lighted creek.
An example of a unique rural project is the Coastal Range Food Bank in Nashville, Ore. The EPA is providing money to help clean up an old gas station after the food bank’s former building burned down (see related story below). Another project is the work the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has been doing with the Linen District in downtown Boise. There, developers are renovating historical buildings to create a mix of commercial office space, local and regional retail stores, and an urban residential area. In Spokane, Wash., the development Kendall Yards has received an EPA brownfields loan of $2.4 million, the largest such loan ever. Developers there are turning a 77-acre former railway maintenance complex into an urban neighborhood, complete with stores and housing for more than 200 families.
It’s this diversity throughout Region 10 that should be celebrated. Many here are looking to the future with the same vision that built the region.
“I think it still has some of that ‘Go Out West’ mentality,” Morales says. “There are still many things to discover, things to try.”
Problem Solver
Persistence pays off for Oregon food bank
There’s a special word for a person who champions a brownfield site, transforming it from an eye soar into a community asset. We’re talking about the people who are unwavering, determined to do what it takes to create some good from one of these properties.
“Projects like this take what we call a brownfield's bulldog, someone who is going to go after this and make it happen,” says Jim Glass, tanks project manager for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
For the Coastal Range Food Bank in Nashville, Ore., that bulldog is Carol Adams. Adams founded the food bank 13 years ago in nearby Summit. When the food bank had to be moved, Adams eyed an abandoned gas station in the tiny town of Nashville. After learning the property had a leaking underground storage tank, Adams still wasn’t deterred. She needed a new place for the food bank, which families in Lincoln and Benton counties had begun to rely on.
“I think Carol is the spark in the whole business,” says Earl Newman of Summit, a food bank volunteer. “She’s a pusher and she’s determined.”
The story of Adams and the Coastal Range Food Bank is a tale of perseverance. Adams never heard of a brownfield when she sought a new home for the food bank. She didn’t even know who to talk to. “I didn’t know what agency did what, who answered to who,” Adams admits.
But that didn’t stop her. After all, the community needed its food bank.
“There are people who come in who really depend on what they get here,” says Emmy Hoyhtya, who’s used the food bank as well as volunteered there. “I know there are many people who really need the help.”
A former engineer for NASA, Adams and her late husband came to Oregon 13 years ago from southern California. She thought she’d get some goats and settle into the western Oregon countryside. But Adams quickly saw Lincoln County had been hit hard by the declining timber industry. About 14 percent of people living there live below the poverty rate, according to the U.S. Census. A family of four living on less than $19,307 a year, or a retired couple living on $11,430 a year, lives below the poverty rate. The per capita income there is $18,692.
Adams thought the best way she could serve her community was by feeding those who needed it. Today, the food bank serves 70 families, or about 265 people. Most are senior citizens or young families. Some travel as far as 20 miles to pick up food. The food bank monthly distributes about 2,500 pounds of food. Over the years, it’s expanded into a second-hand clothing shop, too.
Adams established the food bank in the Summit Grange Hall. About five years ago, she saw an abandoned country store in Nashville, a town in the coastal mountains west of Corvallis. It was once called the Nashville Store; it was a grocery store, gas station and post office beginning in the 1930s. The post office was closed in the 1960s and the gas station followed in the 1970s. Though the building was rundown, Adams thought it would make a great location for the food bank once cleaned up. She tried to buy it but was informed of the leaking UST. She learned a large mortgage company in Texas owned the building and wrote officials there a letter, asking them to donate the property to the nonprofit. The food bank would take care of the contamination, she promised. However, Adams wasn’t getting anywhere with the mortgage company after several letters.
Eventually, Adams reached out to Charlie Landman, a legal policy advisor for DEQ’s land quality division in Portland. Landman also put her in touch with Glass. It was easy to get behind this project, Landman says. “The story that these folks tell, it’s pretty irresistible,” he says.
Meanwhile, a 2003 fire at the Grange Hall burned most of that building. Adams told Landman if the mortgage company was ever to donate the building, it needed to be done soon. Potential purchasers of the country store already had walked away, unwilling to deal with the contamination. Adams sent one final letter saying she would not ask again. “I didn’t know a darn thing,” she says. “It was just a sheer bluff.”
The mortgage company now was ready to do business. Landman developed a perspective purchaser agreement saying if the land was donated to the food bank, the state wouldn’t hold the company responsible for cleanup. The EPA came through with a $100,000 cleanup grant for the project. A hardship waiver was requested, and the EPA waived the cost share. It’s the only such waiver Glass has ever seen approved. However, the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department had already awarded the project a $20,000 assessment grant.
“We got the building and didn’t miss one month of food (distribution),” Adams says.
The fledgling Adams has served as project manager in the food bank’s renovation. She says it’s been a road with many twists, but the project is making strides. The USTs came out in December. While contamination was found in soils and groundwater near the tanks, the pump island and the Eddyville-Blodgett highway, it’s not as bad as suspected. Contaminated soils will be removed and the groundwater will be monitored. A green space also is planned. Glass expects to have the project completed by this fall.
Through the process, Adams has been an advocate for her community and hasn’t been intimidated by the topic of brownfields. “I couldn’t think of a better person to be willing to go after it and not be afraid to jump into discussions and work with regulators, county commissioners, whoever,” Glass says.
“This was a result of really one person being a shining light,” Landman says.
Groundwork
Consider TBA when looking for project funding
For the small town of Snohomish, Wash., possible contamination on land the city was developing into a public trail system could have been enough to throw the project off course for several months. The city was working on completing its Riverfront and Centennial trails, which together provide a mile of paved trails through the town. Part of the trail runs along a railroad line, which brought concerns about possible fuel contaminates. The city needed to know what, if any, contamination had taken place.
Luckily for Snohomish, it qualified for a targeted brownfields assessment (TBA). A TBA is a study conducted by the EPA to determine the nature and extent of contamination. The TBA covers the cost of the assessment and uses contractors hired by the EPA. The TBA found some contamination along the trails but nothing above required cleanup levels. The TBA saved the city about $52,000.
“The targeted brownfields assessment was a wonderful tool,” says Ann Caley, project manager for the city’s public works department. “Being a small city, we not only didn’t have the funds, but we also didn’t have the manpower.”
Plus, the city now has a thorough report documenting the history of that area. “We have a valuable resource for the planning department,” Caley says. “It’s an amazing historic record.”
If the city hadn’t applied for the TBA, it would’ve proceeded with soil sampling, taking funding away from the development and acquisition phases, and slowing the project down, Caley says. “It was truly helpful, truly beneficial to us,” she says. “The TBA has helped us move forward.”
A TBA is an underused resource, says Joanne LaBaw, the EPA’s TBA coordinator for Region 10. Last year, LaBaw did about five or six of the assessments. “We’d love to do more,” she says.
A TBA can cover many different things; each is customized to a user’s request. If requested, the assessment can include an analysis of options and cost estimates associated with the options. Assessment work is conducted by environmental consultants already under contract with EPA. TBAs have been done for various amounts of money. “They can be very flexible,” LaBaw says of the TBA.
The assessments are available to public, quasi-public and nonprofit entities interested in redeveloping abandoned or underutilized properties. Redevelopment can involve the creation of commercial, industrial, recreational or conservation uses. To qualify for an assessment, there must be a potential release of hazardous substances at the site. The property also can't be either a superfund site or a federal facility. The project must show it will have public benefits to be eligible. LaBaw also prefers not to work on a site that’s under a cleanup order.
TBAs can be an alternative to a brownfields assessment grant, and they can save a project time compared to a grant. When LaBaw approves an application, it usually takes about three to four weeks to move forward. The TBA then can be completed within a couple of months. With a grant, applicants who submit a grant application in mid-December won’t know if they’re awarded the grant until summer. Also, someone who applies for an assessment grant is competing with hundreds of projects. That’s not the case with a TBA. LaBaw usually recommends a TBA over a grant if the applicant has one particular issue that needs to be looked at.
SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) in Seattle has used TBAs in its Rainier Court project. A mixed-use development on 7 acres of contaminated land, Rainier Court will have 500 housing units and 15,000 square feet of retail and commercial space when completed. The EPA has helped SEED identify the contaminates in that project. The TBAs used have added up to about $500,000 over two years, says Pat Chemnick, economic development manager for SEED. EPA has been flexible in working with SEED, allowing the TBAs to be done in phases as the project continues to move forward, Chemnick says.
“It was incredible the number of different things they test for. The data is very, very thorough,” Chemnick says. “(The TBA) saves you a lot of headaches and money. It’s valuable – it’s extremely valuable.”
Chemnick also sings the praises of the EPA. Many people are turned off by the idea of working with a federal agency because of the potential bureaucracy involved, Chemnick says. That’s never been the case. She describes the EPA as “customer oriented” and “user friendly.”
Jim Stevens, director of campus services at Lake Washington Technical College in Kirkland, Wash., echoes Chemnick when talking about working with the EPA. LaBaw was helpful throughout the TBA process, he says. The technical college received a $50,000 TBA for its Redmond campus. A Nike Missile Base formerly sat on the 2-acre campus. Built around 1960, the concrete-and-steel structure that once held nuclear-tipped missiles was a relic of the Cold War era, used to protect Boeing. College officials didn’t know what they were up against when looking into possible contamination. However, the TBA found little contamination. A 20,000-square-foot academic building has been built in its place.
Had the technical college not qualified for the TBA, that money would’ve come out of construction money, Stevens says. He’s grateful for programs like the TBA. “This program is about helping people to assess what the problems are,” he says.
For more information about the TBA program, call LaBaw at 206-553-2594.
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