In September 2010, Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming was appointed by President Barack Obama as the U.S. EPA's Region 4 Regional Administrator/Southeast Region, in turn becoming the first African American to hold this position in Region 4. However, garnering this position is not the first time Keyes FlSeming has made history.

Keyes Fleming took office as the DeKalb County (Ga.) District Attorney in January 2005, making her the first African-American and first woman ever to serve in this post. As DeKalb's DA, her staff prosecuted approximately 11,000 felony cases annually. She also managed and trained approximately 45 attorneys, more than 55 support personnel and administered a $12 million budget.

In assessing her new opportunity and the shift from a pure public legal post to an environmental-centric position that also incorporates legal, economic responsibilities—plus more—Fleming emphasized the opportunity at hand to spark economic revitalization for the region, which serves Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and 6 Tribes.

Keyes Fleming remarked that "one of the things I most enjoy is working with our states and communities in the southeast on public health protection and environmental cleanup. The Brownfields program provides an exceptional opportunity for EPA to provide grant funds and technical assistance to support both of these activities while promoting economic revitalization. I look forward to working with many more communities which have both successes and challenges in this area," said Keyes Fleming.

Region 4 is also directing substantial staffing and resources to working with other federal agencies to support Brownfields Revitalization and Sustainable Communities. Twelve communities have been selected by Region 4 as areas where the region will work with communities and local and regional agencies to enhance ongoing federal activity in the area.

This effort originated as an attempt to work with communities that were awarded ARRA funds, but eventually included the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. Major projects that include Region 4 Brownfields and other federal assistance are located in Atlanta, Durham, N.C., Turkey Creek, Miss., The Historic Civil Rights Trail-Selma/Montgomery, Ala., and Aiken/Graniteville, S.C.

Executive Spotlight:

Philip Vorsatz,
Brownfields coordinator, Region 4, Atlanta.

Vorsatz once managed the Region's Safe Drinking Water Act program prior to this appointment, and has experience in water quality analysis and wastewater treatment design and construction. Everything flows from this meaningful line of experience for Vorsatz, who has served as the Coordinator/Manager of the Regional Brownfields program since 2003. What does he find compelling about this shift in capacity?

"Brownfields is an especially enjoyable program to work in, since it has so many differing components, the environmental and economic parts, community involvement, as well as the technical details of site sampling, cleanup planning and oversight," comments Vorsatz. "As an engineer, I find especially refreshing the ability to work with communities and local government officials on helping them sort out and begin to implement a vision for revitalization in their communities."

The EPA Brownfields program provides grants to communities for planning, assessment and cleanup of properties where contamination is limiting the property's environmental, social, or economic value. At any one time, EPA Region 4 is managing approximately 130 grants, many of which involve multiple properties. Grantees range from very small communities to the largest metropolitan areas in the Southeast.

This includes the city of Atlanta, which is performing assessment and cleanup on their inner "beltline" green way and transportation corridor; and the small city of Valley, Ala., which is re-adapting abandoned textile mills for small business enterprises.

Vorsatz holds a B.S. from Duke University and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Georgia. He also recently obtained his LEED Green Associate certification and is looking forward to implementing more "green" concepts in his Brownfields activities.

Are there local decision-makers that you know who are making a positive impact on brown and green initiatives? Please forward your recommendations so we can recognize them in future Regional Reports. Go to: www.brownfieldrenewal.com/editor