Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-5jtmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-24T06:25:50.880Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Closing the Brownfield Information Gap: Some Practical Methods for Identifying Brownfields

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2005

S. L. Coffin
Affiliation:
Center for Environmental Policy and Management, University of Louisville
Get access

Extract

Communities historically have had a difficult timeunderstanding the scope and breadth of their brownfield situation. Thislack of information has resulted in part from property owner reluctanceto reveal contamination potential because of liability fears. Failure toinform creates a debilitating stigma effect, where properties and entireneighborhoods are avoided because of suspected but unknown contaminationpotential. In this article, I present a method with which communitiescan address the brownfield information gap while bypassing individualproperty owner objections by means of a creative combination of existingformal and informal government records. Using assumptions based on theUnited States Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) official definition of a brownfield, environmental, land use, and property tax information can be collected on an individual property basis. The resulting data will allow communities to develop a more comprehensive brownfields profile that will help reduce the stigma effect of suspected brownfields and further community–wide redevelopment efforts.

Information

Type
FEATURES
Copyright
© 2003 National Association for Environmental Professionals

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable