New developments in using clean energy to clean up brownfields
Wind turbines at the Bethlehem Steel Superfund site in Lackawanna, NY. Courtesy EPA.
Exciting new developments are advancing our policy goal of re-using contaminated idle brownfield sites to support new renewable energy sources. As we have argued in previous posts, using contaminated lands for renewable energy development means less pressure to develop uncontaminated natural areas and open space, and also means less need for new transmission lines and rights-of-way. It is a win-win for lands, communities, and advocates of a clean energy future.
First, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, by way of the RE-Powering America’s Lands Initiative, have identified 12 sites or groups of sites that merit closer assessment due to their potential to site renewable energy. The reviews—for which money has already been put on the table — will take place over the next year and a half, and will include a variety of analyses, from the best technology for the site, electricity generating capacity, and the economic feasibility of projects.
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The locations of these sites range from Kansas to California to as far as Puerto Rico. This geographic diversity makes sense — as the U.S. Conference of Mayors likes to point out, there is a brownfield in every Congressional district, and we also know that there is a brownfield with renewable energy potential in every state!
We have also been closely tracking an interesting project in Questa, New Mexico, the Chevron Molycorp molybdenum mine. Chevron is planning to build the country’s largest concentrating solar photovoltaic plant on the mine tailings, which have been designated as a Superfund site. The 175 solar panels will be installed on 20 acres of polluted land and will provide 1 megawatt of power.
This project, which is slated to be completed at the end of 2010, has the potential to create jobs and revenue for the community and clean up an extremely contaminated site. Should it succeed, it will be one of the best case studies for putting renewable energy on contaminated lands by leveraging private money for the public good. We will keep you updated on its progress.
Finally, the President’s Budget released earlier this month contains good news for brownfields, with a $215 million request for brownfields cleanup, redevelopment, and job training (which is an increase of $42 million over last year). We are hopeful that some of these funds will be used to promote and incentivize the use of renewable energy as a sustainable end use for these sites. As Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the EPA stated, “We’re investing in Superfund and Brownfields programs that employ thousands of people across the country and restore properties for economic use.”
All three of these developments just begin to show the amount of excitement that there is around this idea. TWS will be continuing to promote the use of brownfields for renewable energy development as part of our “guided development” strategy, making sure that renewable energy is sited in the most appropriate places. Find more information on what this means.
photo: Wind turbines at the Bethlehem Steel Superfund site in Lackawanna, NY. Courtesy EPA.
About Jessica Goad
Jessica Goad previously served as a Policy Fellow on our energy and climate teams. She worked on both renewable and fossil energy issues. Jessica’s enthusiasm for public lands and environmental policy grew out of her childhood experiences... More about Jessica Goad
Legacy Comments
Renewable energy
I think it is important to continually look for new ways to produce renewable energy and repair the damage that was done to the land and the environment by oil rigs and gas power stations. More of an effort in the world need's to be made to make sure we get more renewable energy producers up and running and stop any new nuclear power stations from being built. The damage done to the environment by nuclear power is so long lasting and difficult to repair it doesn't make sense to build more and add to our problems to fix. working with nuclear power is so dangerous anyway it is crazy to build more nuclear power stations and keep ruining the landscape that way. We can see from our weather and the increase of natural disasters that global warming is not far off as some people think. We need to do what we can to stop destructive industries like nuclear power to build more stations.
It is very important for our
It is very important for our nation to seek and employ different sources for energy. Not only because of the dwindling oil stocks globally but also because of the polution we should try to avoid. Global warming may seem to some an event in the very distant future but we see it's affects even as we speak. The temperatures are rising in some parts of the world, in Europe this year it was the worst winter of the last 60 years and the sure thing is that the environment cannot be overlooked anymore.
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