Search  

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A list of frequently asked questions about site revitalization using Triad.

Below is a list of frequently asked questions about about site revitalization using Triad. Click a question below to see the answer.

Back to Top

Why are people so reluctant to use the abandoned property in our community?

Often, the liability and/or operating costs associated with reusing and revitalizing a site are unknown. For example, the owner of a gas station may consider closing one pump island because he does not know how extensive the damage to fuel lines might be. Or a potential "new" purchaser may not want to be held liable for leaks from underground storage tanks at an abandoned gas station that could affect water supply wells in homes near the gas station. Alternatively, property could be abandoned because there is no information about whether past site activities could have affected the environment. In general, being uncertain about how much it is going to cost to reuse a site and being uncertain about impacts on the environment make people hesitant to reuse or revitalize a site.

Back to Top

What are some examples of how activities at a property could impact the environment?

Two common examples involve gas stations and dry cleaning establishments. Although many dry cleaning establishments now use "environment friendly" chemicals, in the past dry cleaning operations could have used chlorinated solvents. Such solvents, if inadvertently spilled or if intentionally disposed of on the property, can be a source of air and groundwater contamination. With regard to gas stations, present-day underground storage tank (UST) design, installation, and operation prevent impacts to the environment. However, in some cases, design, installation, and operating practices of older UST systems could result in the release of fuel. For example, USTs can become corroded and develop leaks in the tanks and in the fuel lines that deliver fuel to the pump islands at gas stations. If the leaks are not detected by site operators, gasoline can migrate down into the water table and cause groundwater contamination.

Back to Top

We want to revitalize our community. Is there something I as an individual can do or do I need help?

Site reuse and community revitalization can be complicated; no one individual can accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished. You need to get together with a team of people from your community (let's call it a reuse team) or take advantage of experts already assembled in community organizations, like zoning boards or planning commissions, to help evaluate that revitalization potential. EPA discusses the role community organizations can play in environmental decision-making on these public participation web sites-http://www.epa.gov/superfund/community/toolkit.htm and http://www.epa.gov/superfund/community/index.htm. For example, consider the Route 66 Initiative, in which state regulators and county and city personnel from communities along Route 66 worked together as a revitalization team.

Back to Top

What is the Triad approach?

In general, site assessment and cleanup programs have been criticized for their cost, duration, and efficacy (or lack of it). The way data collection programs have been conducted is partly to blame. Traditional sampling and analysis programs relied on work plans that dictated how many samples would be taken and where, and what laboratory analyses would be conducted on those samples. When surprises were encountered in the course of work, stakeholders were left with the difficult choice of staging another expensive round of sampling or making decisions with incomplete data.

A different approach takes advantage of the social network of the reuse team, smart planning, and new technologies. For many contaminants of concern, it is now possible to obtain information about their presence and level in "real-time" (i.e., quickly enough to affect the scope and progress of field activities). In addition, over the last 30 years the cleanup professional community has gained a much better understanding of likely contamination scenarios and the environmental fate and transport processes that determine the present and future states of contaminated sites. This knowledge, combined with technology advancements, opens the way for a new approach to address hazardous waste site decision-making uncertainty, and the design and implementation of sampling programs to support cleanup decisions.

The EPA coined the term "Triad" to refer to this approach. The EPA believes that implementation of the Triad can potentially lead to faster and more cost-effective hazardous waste site remediation, while at the same time improving the overall decision-making process and ultimately achieving the final goal of hazardous waste site programs: safe return of sites to productive use. For more information see the Triad Introduction page.

Back to Top

How does my community get started?

Once you have created your reuse team, you will need a way to identify the property in your community that has some potential for revitalization. There is no one correct way to do this, but this programmatic planning aspect of revitalization is important. You can make lists or use maps to identify candidate sites. If you have a lot of candidate properties, a geographic information system (GIS) may be helpful. For example, the Abandoned Commercial Tanks (ACT) Program created for Tacoma, Washington, is a GIS-based system. In addition, the St. Louis Development Corporation created a GIS-based inventory of brownfield sites. In some cases, brownfield grants from the EPA or the state are available to help establish this site inventory.

Back to Top

How does programmatic planning differ from project planning?

Programmatic planning can be thought of as how you plan the revitalization of multiple sites in your community. Project planning can be thought of how you plan the investigation and cleanup of specific properties. Programmatic planning allows you to identify the needs of several site investigations and to then take advantage of economies of scale. For example, if underground storage tanks at 10 sites need to be investigated, your community can save money by contracting with a single vendor rather than with 10 vendors.

Back to Top

What does all this planning have to do with the environmental investigation of properties in our community?

The "homework" you do as you plan your revitalization effort may help you identify properties that don't even need an environmental investigation before redevelopment. However, your reuse team may learn that hazardous materials were used at candidate properties and that an environmental investigation would be needed before the sites can be reused. The environmental investigation is an attempt to refine the conceptual site model. If an environmental investigation is needed, in some cases the reuse team can take advantage of similarities among candidate sites to reduce the time and effort needed to complete environmental investigations. For example, the U.S. Navy prepared a single approach for the investigation, excavation, and cleanup of contaminated soil from multiple sites on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Kansas City completed area-wide feasibility studies resulting in information that could be used for multiple sites.

Back to Top

What is the role of the reuse team in a site investigation?

The reuse team will work with your environmental contractor to determine whether the site in question is affected by past operations. The reuse team has a role in planning the investigation before it starts and in responding and making decisions as information is collected. The pace of environmental investigations can be quickened by reliance on dynamic work strategies and real-time measurement systems. Examples of project-specific planning and the periodic review and response to newly generated information are included in descriptions of the Milltown Redevelopment Site and Hurlburt Field.

Back to Top

What are some of the factors that we need to consider as we evaluate properties for revitalization?

Resources will probably be limited, so the reuse team will need to come up with criteria to use to select which sites can be advanced for revitalization. The selection criteria will vary from community to community. Criteria for selecting sites for reuse could involve all candidate sites on key transportation corridors (the Route 66 Initiative and the Northern New Jersey Port District) or sites with the potential for contaminating a sole source aquifer (Tacoma, Washington, ACT Program), publicly owned sites (St. Louis Development Corporation), sites eligible for specific funding instruments such as sites located in empowerment zones, or sites eligible for Historic Tax Credits or otherwise eligible for philanthropic funding (Elder Street Artists Lofts).

Back to Top

How can we remove uncertainties about reusing property and revitalizing abandoned property in our community?

The reuse of property and the revitalization of abandoned property are driven by the needs of the community, current and potential site owners, and regulatory processes involving regulatory officials. Even though the steps and terms might differ, the process for evaluating the environmental impacts caused by a site involve the same phases: site identification, site assessment, and, if needed, site cleanup. At each phase of the process, critical decisions are made by all of these parties, or stakeholders. One of the primary decisions is to determine whether stakeholders need to take action because contamination is thought to be present at the site. Such a determination is based on data collected from the site, data that usually takes the form of soil, sediment, air, or groundwater samples analyzed to determine the presence and level of contamination present. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to help you determine the number of samples you need to reduce uncertainties. However, in general if you take a sufficient number of the right kind of samples, you can be pretty certain about whether the site in question is contaminated and you can be more certain about how to clean up the site.

Back to Top


Didn't see your question here?

Contact us at webmaster@emsus.com. We'll do our best to answer your question.


 Print version