The Environmental Protection Agency released a draft plan on October 14 to promote development of renewable energy facilities on contaminated lands, the next step in its Re-Powering America’s Land Initiative.
Launched in September 2008, the initiative encourages the siting of renewable energy facilities on thousands of currently and formerly contaminated properties across the nation, including Superfund, brownfields, former landfills, or former mining sites.
Click here to read the draft RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative Management Plan
The draft plan builds on the progress that’s been made to date under this initiative, and lays out key areas that EPA will focus on over the next two years. The initiative is exploring ways to provide incentives and technical assistance for those interested in cleaning up and reusing contaminated land for solar, wind, or other renewable energy generation facilities.
Activities to be undertaken as part of the management plan include:
- Developing and expanding the toolbox of resources for use by EPA, states, and stakeholders including guidance, case studies and fact sheets
- Conducting outreach to different stakeholder groups
- Clarifying liability protections
- Adding other sites to the Google Earth mapping tool, such as state-tracked contaminated lands
- Seeking collaborative opportunities with other federal agencies to site renewable energy projects on potentially contaminated land and mine sites
EPA will accept public comment on RE-Powering America's Land Initiative Management Plan until November 30.
Click here for more information