NGA's Coastal Brownfields Conference convened Governors' staff and senior state environmental and coastal officials to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities of the remediation and redevelopment of coastal brownfields. NGA invited the Governors of the Northeastern coastal and Great Lakes states to send a team of representatives to this conference. The goal was to focus attention on coastal brownfields which offer the important opportunity to restore coastal habitat, revitalize urban waterfronts, and promote environmentally sound economic development. Each team consisted of individuals who will bring unique insight to the redevelopment process such as brownfields, coastal, planning, economic development, and local government representatives. In addition to outstanding speakers, this conference provided state teams the chance to learn about best practices in other states and identify potential policy or program initiatives they could use.

Coastal brownfields are former industrial sites along ports, harbors, and other coastal areas that now lay abandoned. Redevelopment of these sites present a unique opportunity to revitalize coastal areas while promoting more compact land development, preserving valuable green space and restoring natural resources. Smart brownfields cleanup and redevelopment can improve public access to the waterfront as well as improve the quality of near-shore habitat and open fisheries that were closed due to contamination concerns.

In addition to state officials, representatives of federal and local government as well as private partners were invited to share their perspectives and highlight opportunities for future partnerships. Participants examined the link between brownfields assessment and cleanup with coastal habitat restoration and waterfront revitalization.

Thursday, September 11, 2003

7:30 - 8:00 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:00 - 8:15 a.m.
Welcome
Joel Hirschhorn
Director, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources, NGA Center for Best Practices

Susan Studlien
Acting Director
Office of Site Remediation and Restoration
Region I, Environmental Protection Agency

8:15 - 8:45 a.m.
Opening Remarks
Ellen Roy Herzfelder
Secretary, Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs

8:45 - 9:15 a.m.
Unique Challenges of Coastal Brownfields: The Big Picture
Eldon Hout (Presentation 1.35 MB)
Director, Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

9:15 - 10:30 a.m.
Waterfront Revitalization and Marine Transportation Panel
Moderator:
Jack Wiggin, Urban Harbors Institute, Associate Director, University of Massachusetts Boston

Waterfront Revitalization: Glen Cove, NY
Peter Walsh (Presentation 2.11 MB)
Coastal Resource Specialist, Division of Coastal Resources & Waterfront Revitalization New York Department of State

Waterfront Revitalization: State of Connecticut
John Paul (Presentation 1.74 MB)
Senior Vice President and Director, Connecticut Brownfields Redevelopment Authority

Cynthia Petruzzello, Vice President, Connecticut Brownfields Redevelopment Authority

Marine Transportation: Port of Baltimore
Frank Hamons (Presentation 4.18 MB)
Deputy Director, Harbor Development, Maryland Port Administration

10:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Break

10:45 - Noon
Recreation, Environmental Restoration, & Public Access Panel

Moderator:
Jena Carter, Director of Government Affairs, Coastal States Organization

Environmental Restoration and Public Access: City of Milwaukee
Mike Wisniewski (Presentation 5.44 MB)
Commissioner's Office, Milwaukee Department of City Development

Environmental Restoration: Rhode Island
Danni Goulet
Dredging Coordinator, Coastal Resources Management Council

Curtis Spalding (Presentation 3.92 MB)
Executive Director, Rhode Island Save the Bay

Noon - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch Presentation: Redevelopment of Coastal Brownfields in New Bedford, Massachusetts
Honorable Frederick Kalisz, Jr. (Speech)
Mayor, New Bedford, Massachusetts

1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Examining State Best Practices
Moderator:
Kenneth Walker, Program Analyst, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, NOAA

New York: Waterfront Revitalization and Brownfields Redevelopment (Presentation 9.74 MB)
George Stafford, Director, Coastal Resources and Waterfront Revitalizations Division, New York Department of State

Dale Desnoyers, Director, Division of Environmental Remediation, New York Department of Environmental Conservation

Massachusetts: Coastal Brownfields Issues in Massachusetts
Catherine Finneran, Brownfields Coordinator, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

Vivian Li, President, Boston Harbor Association

Maine: Working Waterfront Initiative
James F. Connors, Senior Planner
Maine Coastal Program

Wisconsin: Brownfields Initiative
Michael Prager (Presentation 4.81 MB)
Land Recycling Team Leader Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

3:10 p.m.
Meet in hotel lobby to immediately depart for boat tour

3:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Boston Harbor Tour of Two Projects

Spectacle Island
Peter Lewenberg, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Environmental Affairs, Boston Harbor Islands

Ron Killian, Manager of Environmental Procedures and Permitting, Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project

Chelsea Creek
Charles Lord, Executive Director, Urban Ecology Institute

Boston Harbor Tour of Two Coastal Brownfields Projects
As part of the Coastal Brownfields: "At the Water's Edge" conference, NGA has organized a three-hour harbor tour to highlight redeveloped brownfields located in and around Boston Harbor. The first site we will view is Spectacle Island. For over a century, this island has been home to a variety of hazardous wastes. In the 1950's, the City of Boston purchased it and began to fill its sandbar with municipal trash. The fill reached the depth of seventy feet before the dump was abandoned in 1959. Spectacle Island is now a 105-acre public park which has been redeveloped using dirt from Boston's massive "Big Dig" project, a restructuring of the city's highway system. The island now has a visitors center, a marina, and a small park which will open next spring.

The second area to be visited is Chelsea Creek. Along the banks of the Chelsea River (Creek) lie oil tank farms, asphalt storage tanks, a tannery, dilapidated piers, hazardous wastes sites, a fish-processing facility, airport freight businesses, and an enormous salt pile. Over a century of neglect has made the Chelsea Creek the most polluted tributary to the Boston Harbor. The mission of the Chelsea Creek Restoration Project (CCRP) is to transform the polluted land into an environmentally sound natural area to include open-space, public access, and recreation. The Master Plan for Chelsea Creek involves both publicly and privately owned sites on the shores of the river.

Friday, September 12, 2003

8:00 - 8:30 a.m.
Opening Presentation: Redevelopment of Coastal Brownfields in Elizabeth, New Jersey

Honorable Christian Bollwage (Speech)
Mayor, Elizabeth, New Jersey

8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
Public/Private Partnerships
Moderator:
Betsy Nicholson, Program Coordinator, Office of the Secretary, NOAA

Pfizer Global Research and Development Headquarters Project
New London, Connecticut
Susan Zimbelmann (Presentation 4.69 MB)
Manager, Global Real Estate, Pfizer Global Research and Development

Establishing Partnerships and Planning Redevelopment
Erika Feller (Presentation 557K)
Senior Policy Advisor/NOAA
The Nature Conservancy

9:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Break

10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Team Breakouts

11:00 - 11:45
Team Reports and Open Discussion
Tara Butler
Senior Policy Analyst
Energy, Environment and Natural Resources
NGA Center for Best Practices

11:45 - noon
Closing Remarks and Adjournment