However, it is rather challenging to estimate the value of a brownfield site and the potential dangers of its pollutants. For instance, it still baffles scientists and experts today to evaluate the long-term health threats to human beings and the danger to the eco-systems of a contaminated area. Perhaps you have read the book or watched the movie a civil action, and then you may remember this landmark court case of the industrial contamination story in Woburn Massachusetts in 1980’s. Millions of dollars and countless efforts have been made to clean up the polluted rivers and lands over the past three decades, but many issues remain unresolved, hence many areas continue to be monitored and remain uninhibited.
We may not have cases of childhood leukemia or toxic drinking water like Woburn had, but we do have both brownfield sites which are waiting to be remediated and sustainably reused and converted brownfields with unknown potential environmental impacts in Shelby County. In addition to five EPA’s superfund sites, there are fifty-five significant brownfields in Shelby County on the EPA’s list. Some of these formerly contaminated properties continue to pollute adjacent areas and nearby communities. Some are sitting vacant and hence cause neighboring areas be blighted. Some are under redevelopment, and some are fully revitalized ready to rise again in prominence. These brownfields are at
different redevelopment stages, therefore they provide a unique opportunity for a longitudinal study of their environmental impacts on the area.
A number of previous studies, conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that significant environmental and/or economic benefits were achieved after brownfields were converted and then were put to reuse. In light of this finding, I will systematically evaluate the environmental impacts of redeveloped brownfield sites with accessible information in Shelby County, and will use the Memphis Defense Depot (the depot), an EPA superfund site and part of which has been reused, as the first case study to initiate this project. I plan to compare the environmental performances of the depot before and after the redevelopment, as well as compare the environmental performances of the current depo and that of a hypothetical counterpart greenfield site. Personal vehicle use per capita, total vehicle energy use and air pollutant emissions per capita, as well as stormwater runoff and pollutant loads will be used as indicators of environmental performance. As I will show through this project, I anticipate my findings will shed lights on sustainable land use and urban revitalization strategy in Memphis area with an ultimate hope of creating a healthy and enduring environment.