Brownfields: How Contaminated Land Gets a Second Life

The United States has an estimated 450,000 brownfield properties — contaminated or potentially contaminated sites that are abandoned or underutilised because the actual or perceived contamination creates liability concerns that discourage development. They sit at the intersection of environmental health, urban economics, and community revitalisation: frequently located in densely populated urban areas, they represent both ongoing contamination risk and underutilised land that communities need for housing, parks, and economic development.

The distinction between brownfields and Superfund sites matters practically: Superfund sites are the most contaminated locations in the country, on the National Priorities List, with federal authority and funding for cleanup. Brownfields are the much larger universe of contaminated or potentially contaminated properties that don't meet the NPL threshold — often with lesser contamination, often with identifiable responsible parties with some capacity to fund cleanup, and often eligible for redevelopment with less extensive remediation than NPL sites require.

The EPA's Brownfields Program — created in 1995 and significantly expanded by the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002 — provides grant funding, technical assistance, and liability protections that have collectively leveraged billions of dollars of private brownfield redevelopment across the country.

The EPA Brownfields Program operates through a system of assessment grants, cleanup grants, and revolving loan funds that help communities characterise and remediate brownfield properties.

Assessment grants Communities can apply for EPA Brownfields Assessment Grants of up to $500,000 to conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments — the document review and physical sampling investigations that characterise contamination at specific properties. These grants are available to state and local governments, tribes, and non-profit organisations.

Cleanup grants Communities and non-profit organisations can apply for cleanup grants of up to $500,000 per site to fund actual remediation of brownfield properties they own. Responsible parties are not eligible for cleanup grants.

Revolving loan funds Some states and communities have received EPA revolving loan fund grants that provide low-interest loans for brownfield cleanup, with repaid funds used for additional cleanups. This structure allows limited federal funding to leverage significantly more cleanup activity than grants alone.

The liability protection framework One of the most important policy elements of the Brownfields Program is the liability protection it provides for "innocent landowners," "bona fide prospective purchasers," and "contiguous property owners" — categories of parties who may acquire contaminated property without being held liable for pre-existing contamination. Without these protections, the CERCLA joint and several liability framework would make purchasing and redeveloping brownfields financially prohibitive for most private developers.

When a brownfield is being prepared for redevelopment, the cleanup standards applied depend critically on the intended future use — a framework that protects different populations at different stringency levels.

Risk-based cleanup standards Most brownfield cleanups use risk-based standards: cleanup to the level required to make the site safe for its intended use, rather than to background or pristine levels. The principal exposure scenarios in risk-based standards are:

Residential use (most stringent): Assumes that the site will be used for housing, with children playing in soil and adults gardening, requiring cleanup to levels that are safe for daily direct contact and incidental ingestion.

Commercial/industrial use (less stringent): Assumes that the site will be used for commercial or industrial purposes, with workers spending time on the site but not engaging in residential activities like home gardening or allowing children to play in the soil.

Restricted use with institutional controls: In some cases, cleanup levels are set for a specific restricted use that requires institutional controls — deed restrictions, engineering controls, or land use restrictions — to prevent more sensitive uses in the future.

The community concern The risk-based standards framework creates a legitimate community concern: a brownfield cleanup to commercial/industrial standards leaves contamination that would be unsafe for residential use, relying on institutional controls to prevent residential exposure in perpetuity. Institutional controls — deed restrictions, zoning restrictions — are not always enforced and do not prevent contamination from migrating to adjacent residential properties. For communities that want to see brownfields redeveloped as housing, parks, or schools, residential cleanup standards are the appropriate protection.

Community participation in brownfield redevelopment decisions is both a right and a practical imperative — the decisions made about cleanup standards and future land use have long-term consequences for community health and for who benefits from the redevelopment.

The community health perspective From a community health standpoint, the most important brownfield redevelopment questions are: • What will the site be used for — and who will be present? • Are the cleanup standards appropriate for the intended use and potential future uses? • What institutional controls will prevent more sensitive uses in the future, and how will they be enforced? • Will the redevelopment improve community health through added greenspace, reduced contamination exposure, and economic opportunity — or primarily benefit developers?

Participating in the planning process Brownfield redevelopment projects typically involve a public planning process that creates formal opportunities for community input: • Local zoning and planning board reviews • Environmental review processes that may require public notice and comment • Community meetings required by grant conditions for EPA-funded assessment and cleanup projects

The park and open space opportunity Brownfields are among the primary land sources for new urban parks and open spaces in land-constrained cities. EPA's Brownfields Program has specifically supported the redevelopment of brownfields as green spaces — addressing both the contamination legacy and the documented health benefits of urban green space described in the Nature Exposure section of this series.

PollutionProfile's mapping of contaminated sites near your current and past addresses includes brownfield properties documented in the EPA's ACRES (Assessment, Cleanup and Redevelopment Exchange System) database — giving you the context to understand the redevelopment history and current status of formerly contaminated sites in your area.