Development of brownfield sites can help significantly in controlling greenhouse gases and the impact that they have on global warming. Reducing the impacts of greenhouse gases can be accomplished through reducing the amount of gases created or by sequestering the gases once they have been released into the environment. The process of sequestering greenhouse gases may result in carbon offsets. Greenhouse gas technology is anything but "light as air." In fact it can be quite heavy; as a result it's instructive to provide a primer on greenhouse gases before delving into carbon offsets. …

In the Dickensian sense, 2009 was the worst of times, and the best of times for South Carolina. Hit hard by the global recession, the state's unemployment soared to an alarming 12 percent. Nationally, South Carolina became the butt of jokes on late night television comedy shows as Governor Mark Sanford admitted to having an extra-marital relationship with an Argentine reporter. …

PROPERTY SIZE: 22-mile transit loop circling Atlanta's urban core. Covers 6,500 acres or 8% of the city's land area. PROJECT TEAM: Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.; Beltline Partnership; Atlanta Development Authority; City of Atlanta; PATH Foundation; Trust for Public Land; MARTA; EPA; EPD …

Brownfield sites, including closed landfills, sometimes also referred to as legacy landfills, are financial liabilities to their owners whether they be a municipality, a county or the former operators or owners of the site. The owners of such sites may never see an end to the perpetual monitoring requirements mandated by federal and state laws governing solid waste disposal facilities. …

David Misky, Assistant executive director, Redevelopment Authority for the city of Milwaukee, Wis. With work on more than 100 brownfield redevelopment projects under his belt, David Misky says balancing the interests of everyone involved with a site is both his greatest challenge and his favorite part of the job. (See the Renewal Awards feature story that details the acclaimed and award-winning Menomonee Valley project.) …

LOCATION: Charleston, S.C. SIZE : 141 acres BACKGROUND: Cherokee Investment Partners' project in North Charleston, S.C., known as Macalloy, is an EPA Superfund Site. The former steel plant fronts Shipyard Creek and is situated in an industrial and commercial section of the Charleston Peninsula. The site of the former Macalloy Corp. ferrochromium plant was one of the nation's most polluted industrial areas. Ferrochromium alloy, a hard stainless steel, was manufactured at the site from 1941 to 1998. During operations, the plant produced chromium, arsenic, lead, mercury and zinc contaminates and accumulated more than 6,000 violations of the Clean Water Act over the years. …

At press time, the 111th Congress was working towards a mid-December adjournment, after grappling with monumental issues—economic crisis and stimulus, energy and climate change, and health care—that left less global issues, such as brownfields, struggling to move off the back burner. From a direct brownfields and sustainable development perspective, little in the way of concrete legislative achievement has been realized so far in this Congress. We saw no brownfield program reauthorization, no permanent brownfield tax incentive passed, and no sustainability initiative enacted. …

No state cleanup law explicitly mandates that energy efficiency, water usage, air emissions, or the creation of waste be taken into consideration when selecting a remedy. Considering that the goal of these cleanup laws was to create a liability scheme and to clean up hazardous waste sites, it’s not surprising that other environmental considerations were not taken into …

LOCATION: Lower Mid-City, New Orleans. PRESENT USE: 147 mixed-income apartments, completed in November 2008. SIZE: 180,000 square feet. COST: $30 million SITE BACKGROUND: The Falstaff Brewery operated in the Mid-City area of New Orleans since the early 1900s. The property laid idle for nearly 30 years since its closure in 1978. An environmental lien was imposed on the property in 2000 resulting from attempted illegal asbestos removal by the former …

Approximately 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia, a former steel mill is the new home to several internationally-based manufacturing corporations and green industries. Formerly known as United States Steel Corp.Fairless Works site, the Keystone Industrial Port Complex (KIPC) has attracted revolutionary “green” technology jobs to Pennsylvania from around the world to this 2,600-acre brownfield property. …