New Environmental Solutions

EPA’s land revitalization initiatives are producing significant environmental 

benefits and helping to transform communities into more sustainable and 

livable places. The strategy of encouraging market-driven redevelopment of 

brownfields and other contaminated sites for economic reuse is proving to 

be a successful approach at many sites. However, challenging real estate 

markets and economic realities can leave some formerly contaminated 

properties unused, possibly for a long time. New approaches are needed to 

revitalize these sites and protect human health and the environment.

EPA’s Land Revitalization Team is working with communities, states, other 

federal agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and the 

private sector to develop and test new approaches that recognize valuable 

reuse alternatives for formerly contaminated properties. Building green 

infrastructure to help manage stormwater runoff and floods, promoting safe 

soil management to support urban agriculture, and siting renewable energy 

on contaminated sites can bring environmental, ecological, and social 

benefits to communities. Unlocking the potential value of these underused 

properties often requires creativity and close collaboration with many public 

and private partners. These projects can help stabilize communities and 

spur economic development.

Land Revitalization Fact Sheet

Building Healthy Communities by 

Increasing Access to Healthcare 

Services

Cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields helps create safer, healthier communities 

in many ways. When redevelopment 

includes siting new medical offices, 

community health centers, or other 

healthcare facilities on former brownfields, increased access to healthcare services benefits public health 

and improves the quality of life and 

economic well-being of a community. 

Furthermore, healthcare facilities can 

act as economic engines that attract 

new businesses and employers. 

No one knows exactly how many 

health care facilities are built on 

brownfields. Most expect the number 

to grow. The New York Times reports 

that with enactment of the Affordable 

Care Act, the number of Americans 

who will use community health centers 

could double to 40 million by 2015. 

While brownfields sometimes are 

overlooked, they can be attractive 

sites to redevelop for healthcare facilities because they often are located in 

areas with unmet healthcare needs. 

In addition, the sites often are in areas 

that already have highways, rail, sewer, 

gas, water, and electrical supplies. This 

means that developers can save time 

and money because they will not have 

to build new infrastructure. 

Health Clinic on Brownfield Key to Meeting

Public Health Needs of Disaster Victims 

In Graniteville, South Carolina, a new 

health clinic in an unused shopping 

center is being used for monitoring 

and assessing the long-term health 

of residents following the largest 

chlorine spill in U.S. history. The spill 

occurred in 2005, when a freight 

train collided with a parked train 

near the Avondale mill in the small, 

unincorporated city of Graniteville. 

Four tank cars carrying hazardous 

materials derailed. Three of the cars 

contained chlorine, and one of them 

breached. About 40 tons of chlorine 

vapor and liquid were released. Nine 

people were killed, and hundreds 

suffered respiratory distress. 

In addition to causing a public 

health crisis, the accident led to the 

immediate closure of the Avondale 

Mill and the loss of about 2,000 jobs. 

Workers and their families no longer 

had access to healthcare services at 

the mill—the only healthcare in town. 

When the National Institute of Environmental Health Services funded a 

five-year, $2.9 million study examining 

the lung health of community members 

and workers exposed to the chlorine 

gas, Graniteville lacked a conveniently 

located clinic that participants could 

visit regularly for health monitoring. For 

its first year, the Graniteville Recovery 

and Chlorine Epidemiology (GRACE) 

Study Center was located in Augusta, 

Georgia. The study center offers free 

lung testing for any resident as part of 

a program to identify and document 

any long-term lung problems that 

occurred since the accident. 

EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land 

Revitalization assisted with community meetings to share how brownfields could be reused for a variety 

of community services, including a 

local clinic. A brownfield site was 

selected in the Masonic Lodge 

Shopping Center at 50 Canal 

Street. The clinic site is centrally 

Bob Safay, ATSDR
United States Office of Solid Waste and EPA 560-F-13-035

Environmental Protection Emergency Response May 2013

Agency (5105T) www.epa.gov/brownfields/

More Information:

EPA Land Revitalization Program: http://www.epa.gov/landrevitalization/

Iowa Town Anchors Downtown Revitalization with 

New Wellness Center Built on Former Brownfield 

In spring 2013, the City of Ogden, 

Iowa, plans to begin construction 

of the new Boone County family 

medicine center. The wellness 

center will be built on three centrally 

located brownfield properties in the 

downtown commercial district. The 

new building will be the cornerstone 

of Ogden’s Main Street revitalization. 

Construction of the new family 

medicine center is the first step 

toward realizing Ogden’s downtown 

revitalization plan. The plan was 

developed with the help of EPA 

Region 7 in partnership with the 

Iowa Department of Natural 

Resources (IDNR). 

The 3,100 square-foot building will 

have space for two doctors and 

an extra room for medical equipment or another doctor. The building is designed to meet the needs 

of Boone County Hospital, which 

will lease and eventually purchase 

the building. Part of the building lot 

will be beautified during construction and will be used for the center’s 

second phase of construction, which 

will include medical facilities available for lease. 

The project began several years 

ago under EPA Region 7’s Historic 

Highways Initiative. EPA identified 

abandoned gas stations along the 

historic Lincoln Highway in Iowa and 

Nebraska and along the former Route 

66 in Missouri and Kansas, and worked 

with communities to help clean up 

and reuse petroleum-contaminated 

brownfields and nearby brownfield 

properties. EPA Region 7 worked with 

Ogden to identify reuse strategies for 

an abandoned gas station and other 

brownfields within the city’s downtown 

area. The former gas station site will 

be developed as a way station on 

central Iowa’s rapidly expanding bike 

trail system. 

Funding from EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization 

supported a market analysis and 

needs study, a project web portal, 

and a design charrette to engage 

the community in reuse planning. 

EPA also provided training on the 

brownfields assessment and cleanup 

process and on partnering with other 

state and federal agencies, particularly the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program. 

The process identified revitalization 

priorities that include a new medical 

clinic and retail space, and design 

options for a new, improved gateway 

to downtown Ogden.

City officials used these products to 

market new business opportunities and 

promote downtown revitalization. The 

city purchased vacant properties, 

which gave the city greater control 

over redevelopment planning. 

Ownership also enabled the city to 

receive additional support from IDNR 

for assessment and cleanup work. 

Once the properties were assessed 

and cleaned up, the city demolished 

the vacant buildings and graded the 

sites for redevelopment. 

The city also created Ogden Legacy, 

a nonprofit economic development corporation, and initiated a 

downtown redevelopment plan. 

The wellness center project got a 

big boost when Ogden secured a 

USDA Rural Economic Development 

Loan Grant for up to $300,000 and 

received a $500,000 grant from 

the local Leonard A. Good Trust. 

The grant from the trust, which will 

be paid over four years, is a major 

step towards meeting the project’s 

$850,000 price tag.

located in the community, making 

access easy for chlorine monitoring 

and other non-emergency health 

services. The GRACE Study Center’s 

laboratories and administrative 

offices are housed at the clinic, 

where there is also room for community meetings and the center’s 

annual health fair. The new facility 

allowed the study center to move 

from Augusta to Graniteville in July 

2012 to better serve the affected 

community.

The Graniteville community is 

grappling with economic fallout from 

the accident, including the need to 

clean up contamination at several mill 

sites. EPA brownfields grants provided 

funds for environmental assessment 

and cleanup of mills in the community. The community also would like 

to address the need for a permanent 

community health center. EPA helped 

the community identify additional 

sources of federal funding for revitalization projects, such as the $11 billion 

available through the Department of 

Health and Human Services’ Health 

Resources and Services Administration 

for the construction and renovation of 

community health centers. (http://www.

hrsa.gov/about/organization/bureaus/

bphc/bphc.pdf). EPA also helped put 

Graniteville in touch with the Agency 

for Toxic Substances and Disease 

Registry to produce a video that 

enables Graniteville to share its story so 

others can learn from its experience.