Meet local market makers who are having a positive impact on the world’s landscape

Gil Wistar
Brownfields Coordinator, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Portland

As Brownfields Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in Portland, Wistar keeps abreast of brownfield opportunities and needs across the state. Due to lean staffing and a focus on its core mission of protecting human health and the environment, DEQ has no official brownfields “program.” Wistar, who graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia, and his regional DEQ cohorts carve out time from their other responsibilities to conduct brownfields-related outreach and technical assistance—identifying sites that are a good fit for EPA-funded site investigations and removal actions. Wistar works closely with DEQ’s sister agency, the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, to craft state brownfields policy and develop strategies for specific regional or site issues. “I have two passions: providing Internet access to key information about potential brownfield sites in DEQ’s Cleanup and Tanks Programs and connecting people and resources that can lead to cleanup and successful re-developments at these sites,” said Wistar, who leads the Brownfields Networking Group that meets three times a year, offering education and information-sharing among consultants, developers, attorneys, local, state, and federal employees.

Sam Adams
City Commissioner, Mayor-elect, Portland, Ore.

As City Commissioner with oversight of the City’s Bureau of Environmental Services, Adams secured $500,000 for the Brownfield Investment Fund from Portland’s General Budget—the first brownfield cleanup loan program created with City of Portland funding. Adams recognizes the importance of using a limited land supply wisely, realizing that brownfield investment can pay for itself through increased tax revenue. Program expansion includes the Regulatory Shelter program where a brownfield property owner is provided technical assistance with regulatory requirements from experienced program staff. “This takes the pain out of compliance without circumnavigating requirements,” said Adams, who serves as chair of the Harbor Redevelopment Initiative Blue Ribbon Committee—a multi-agency initiative to facilitate industrial brownfield redevelopment for industrial reuse. “This effort is extremely important to keeping our working harbor as a vibrant hub for employment and commerce,” said Adams, who is also working with staff to explore tax incentives for brownfield redevelopment along with other tax programs. Recently, Adams supported creation of GroundWork Portland, a non-profit land trust under the GroundWork USA umbrella. The goal of GroundWork is to turn brownfield sites in park deficient, lower-income communities and “communities of color,” to open spaces, community assets, parks and gardens. “By cleaning up these sites we have the opportunity to spur economic development, and protect human and environmental health in our communities,” said Adams.

Alan McCammon
Member, Management Team, Land Remediation (Contaminated sites), Ministry of Environment, British Columbia

With an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 brownfield sites, British Columbia has one of the most progressive brownfield initiatives on the continent. McCammon’s current responsibilities in spearheading this effort are garnering results thanks to his extensive statutory decision-making experience under B.C.’s Environmental Management Act and Contaminated Sites and Hazardous Waste regulations. A registered professional geoscientist who received his M.Sc. in Earth Sciences (Hydrogeology) from the University of Waterloo, McCammon said the mission is to receive a better understanding of what legislative or policy changes could be made to better facilitate liability transfer and relief on both regulatory and civil fronts. “We want to know which policies may prove useful for the relevant parties, and which won’t,” said McCammon. “We want to know how to enable local governments and other relevant parties to realize the full potential of underperforming sites—brownfield sites.”

Scott Bailey
Manager, Brownfields and Program Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Crown Land Restoration Branch, British Columbia

In February 2008, Bailey took oversight of the B.C. Brownfield Renewal Strategy, a cross-agency initiative that also consisted of partners from the Ministries of Advanced Education and Labor Market Development, Community Development, Economic Development, Environment and Finance. Formed by the Provincial Government of British Columbia, the Brownfield Renewal Strategy was founded on the intention of increasing brownfield renewal across the province. It would do this by addressing policy, regulatory, legislative, funding and capacity barriers for privately owned sites, as well as leading by example through renewal of provincially owned sites. Spending much of the last 18 months building relationships with stakeholders and government agencies, Bailey said many of the enabling mechanisms are already in place—or will be very shortly. Largely geared towards local governments, the new tools include the brownfield funding program, brownfield hotline, regulatory streamlining, a workshop series and a post secondary education program. The more complex strategy elements are the consideration of liability protection for brownfield transactions, possible measures to reduce the number of future brownfield sites and a review of the tax environment. “We have many small communities in B.C. where the economics of brownfield redevelopment on any single site rarely makes sense,” noted Bailey. “Setting the policy context and providing funding is fundamental, but only part of the equation. Whether it is through our hotline, our workshops or encouraging centers of excellence in early adopter communities, real changes will occur through personal interaction, sharing of stories and the creation of relationships.”