The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry—but those plans are a lot more likely to stay on track when you're T. Boone Pickens. The 80-year-old Texas oil tycoon rolled out his Pickens Plan for energy independence last summer, pumping in $58 million of his own money to promote the cause of easing America's reliance on high-priced foreign fossil fuels. And despite the staggering drop in the price of …

A society's well-being is intimately linked to the health of its ecosystems. Healthy ecosystems provide ecological services such as water purification, flood protection, reduced soil erosion, terrestrial carbon sequestration, surface and ground water protection from contamination, wildlife habitat, a diverse growth of vegetation, pollination, recreation, aesthetic satisfaction, and control of diseases and pests. Creation of a functioning ecosystem from a contaminated site removes stigma in a community and yields an …

The fiscal 2010 process began in earnest on May 7, with President Obama’s transmission of his budget request to Congress. EPA brownfield program reauthorization has slowly started to gain some momentum in the 111th Congress, although no bills have yet been introduced. A broad brownfields reauthorization coalition has been established to encourage Congress to undertake brownfields reauthorization that would build on the program’s strong track record of …

Michael G. Van Ness, J.D. , founder and executive director of Lynchburg Grows, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. …

LOCATION: West Bank of the Christina River in Wilmington, Delaware PROPOSED USE: Non-profit educational children's museum, including indoor exhibit halls with major exhibits on Money and Banking, Human Body, Nature and Environment, Funky Forest, Transportation, Art Workshop, and outdoor patio exhibit, stage, and gathering area along the waterfront. SITE BACKGROUND: The site was historically part of Wilmington's shipyard complex. The large, high-roofed steel building was formerly a warehouse for the shipyard during …

With apologies to Charles Dickens, the year ahead is shaping up to be both the best of times and the worst of times for the business of brownfields. On the one hand, "brownfield financing has always been difficult, and now it's even more so," says Craig Carbrey, president and chief credit officer of EnviroFinance Group in Sacramento, Calif., which specializes in brownfield lending. "There just isn't that much activity. . . …

Notwithstanding the overlapping challenges of illiquid credit markets, "toxic" mortgage debt, increasing unemployment and lower fuel prices, the trend for growth in the green building movement continues to trend upward. This is evidenced not only by the growing number of green buildings, but also through the continued escalation of professionals trained in green design, and of cities that have adopted green building programs, guidelines or requirements. Green Building …

Green Roofs in Boston. Solar power in Houston. Green jobs in Portland. Recycled mills in Alabama. Sustainable design in Laredo. What do these have in common? They are EPA Brownfields Sustainability Pilots. The push for all things green and sustainable has been welcomed in the revitalization world, where reuse is increasingly becoming a vehicle for greater environmental benefit. Brownfields stakeholders are joining the search for cleanup and redevelopment approaches that …

LOCATION: 20th Street and Dr. Andrew J. Brown Avenue, Indianapolis PROPOSED USE: expansion for manufacturing plant SITE BACKGROUND: A variety of manufacturing operations had been on the site for more than …

All sustainability, like all politics, is local. Those are the words of William McDonough, a veteran of the green architecture movement and a man who sees the new Obama administration as a harbinger of the sea change going on in sustainable development. "It's critical to have a large-scale strategy for the reindustrialization of the country," says McDonough. McDonough, founding principal of the William McDonough + Partners design firm, …