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CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PROACTIVE STEPS FOR CONSIDERING FUTURE IMPACTS
Western Brownfields
Workshop
September 29, 2016
• Many of the outcomes EPA programs, in partnership with communities, is trying to attain (e.g., land revitalization, clean air, safe drinking water, economic growth) are sensitive to changes in climate
• Until recently, project managers have been able to use past conditions as a good predictor of the future conditions
• Now, future changes in climate conditions must be predicted with the highest degree of certainty as possible as a basic element of successful project management
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Why Does Climate Change Matter?
What is Changing?
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This Session: Adaptation versus Mitigation
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•What areas are you targeting for reinvestment?
•What are the risks of unknowingly investing limited redevelopment resources in a future flood zone or eroding coastline?
•Will the cleanup remedy you’re designing hold up against expected changes for your area?
•Are “closed” cleanup sites under threat of erosion?
•Can increased rainfall/flooding help to promote green infrastructure plans for your community?
How Does Climate Change Apply to Brownfields Projects?
• Flooding from increased rainfall/storm intensity
• Soil instability/erosion from increased rainfall
• Shoreline erosion from sea level rise and storm surges
• Drought where non-irrigated vegetation prevents sediment runoff
• Subsidence from thawing permafrost or groundwater mining
Will expected changes introduce contaminants into the environment?
Some Potential Threats Related to Contaminated Sites
(1) Explore Climate Threats Using Available Resources
(2) Assess Risks
(3) Explore Potential Co-Benefits of Project
(4) Determine Funding Availability and Leveraging Opportunities
(5) Prioritize and Implement Actions
What Next? Ideas on How to Get Started
•Research potential efforts by local/state governments, NGOs, and academic institutions
•EPA’s Adaptation Tools for Public Officials•www3.epa.gov/climatechange/adaptation/tools.html
•EPA’s Climate Ready Water Utilities (CRWU) website• View your local climate change projections
•www.epa.gov/crwu
Explore Climate Threats Using Available Resources
•FEMA Flood Map Service Center•https://msc.fema.gov/portal
•NOAA Climate Portal•www.noaa.gov/climate
Explore Climate Threats Using Available Resources
•Research potential efforts by local/state governments, NGOs, and academic institutions•Form a team/worksgroup if possible
•Brownfields Grants, EPA Technical Assistance
•EPA’s Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT) – located at CRWU website
•www.epa.gov/crwu• Help to develop a risk assessment • It’s designed for water and wastewater utilities, but still relevant
Assess Risks
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• Green infrastructure for flood control and stormwater retention, especially for waterfront projects• Including expansion of parks, greenspace, urban forests (Carbon sink benefits)•Reduces risk from flooding due to climate change•Shoreline softening
• Habitat restoration, Wildlife corridors
• Nonpoint source control/water quality projects
• Coordination with public works projects and other infrastructure funding
• Clean energy and renewable energy development
• Property values
Co-Benefits and Funding Opportunities
Green Infrastructure Role in Cleanup
Columbia, Missouri – Day lighted Stream and Landscaping
Before: Former bulk oil facility After: Award-winning park with rain garden
CLIMATE CHANGE & CONTAMINANTS IN ALASKA
Christy Howard – Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
Western Brownfields Workshop
San Francisco, CA September 28-29, 2016
ROAD MAP
Climate Change in Alaska
Impacts - Alaska Natives
Impacts - contaminated sites
Solutions
Resources
ALASKA CLIMATE CHANGE
•Warming twice as rapidly
•Earlier snowmelt
•Reduced sea ice
•Retreating glaciers
•Warmer permafrost
•Extensive wildfires
•Increased storm intensity
•Flooding
IMPACTS – ALASKA NATIVES
•40% of the federally recognized tribes in U.S.
•Small number of jobs, high cost of living
•Vulnerable to climate change through impacts on traditional hunting and fishing
Alaskan Villages Considering Relocation
CLIMATE CHANGE & CONTAMINATION
Warming Permafrost – Containment Contaminated sitesSewage lagoonsLandfillsMining operations – tailing ponds
Reduced sea iceErosion of shoreline infrastructure – bulk fuel storage, etc.Offshore development potentialIncreased shipping routes
Climate change will alter how contaminants move in the environment
WARMING PERMAFROST
usgs.gov
80% of Alaska’s surface lies
above permafrost
WARMING PERMAFROST
SEA ICE
Less “protective” shore iceErosion
Offshore development
opportunities
Increased shipping/routesIncreased risk of oil spills
KIVALINA, ALASKA
First U.S. climate change refugees
Barrier Island
8-10ft thick sea ice mostly gone
Underwater by 2025
“What we're facing is real.” "It is threatening our livelihood, our culture, our way of life.
We are a people who are able to adapt to changes, but we need to move our village.“ –
Mike Hawley, president Native Village of Kivalina
Climate Change
Impacts on Potential
Brownfield SitesCaSandera Johnson
BBNA’s Brownfield Coordinator
Climate Change in Alaska
Increasing temp melting sea ice reduced sea ice (buffer) =
increase coastal & river flooding and erosion.
Clark’s Point Located on northeastern shore of
Nushagak Bay, ~15 miles from DLG
Established in1888 by Nushagak Packing Cannery
~75 residences
year round, increase
of people during summer
Commercial fishing
& subsistence fishing
Clarks Point, 1983 Photo by Rick Hawkinson
Clarks Point U.S. Army of Engineers Alaska District “Alaska Baseline Erosion
Assessment Report for Clark’s Point”
Erosion contributed to Nushagak Bay and Nushagak River influences flooding, spring-break up, high tides, and wind and wave action
South-southwest waves can reach 14 feet
Erosion loss of .2 acres a year
Community relocated to higher ground but structures still remain at risk like the old cannery, cemetery, & tribal office.
Old cannery possible brownfield site
No assessment been completed
What kinds of environmental hazards could introduced to waters?
Clark’s Point 1983 Cannery Photo By Rick Hawkingson
Egegik
Village of Egegik photo from U.S Fish & Wildlife
Located on south bank of Egegik River on the Alaska Peninsula, 100 miles southeast of Dillingham
Fish camp in 1876, Alaska Packers Association was established in 1895 and town was developed around former fish camp
109 residents,
↑ ~2,000 in summer
Commercial fishing
& subsistence fishing
Egegik U.S. Army of Engineers Alaska District “Alaska
Baseline Erosion Assessment Report for Egegik” Fall storms account 80% of erosion problems,
greatest concern is Church Point & minor riverbank erosion along Egegik River
Westerly and southwesterly winds can produce 8 foot waves
At risk areas: 20 homes, waterlines, fuel tanks, old cemetery site, road, sewer lines, city dock
Possible Brownfield Sites: fuel tanks Assessment completed is unknown
Possible release of contaminates into fishing waters
Egegik photo by Asaro
References Brownfield Overview and Definition. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2016,
from http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfield-overview-and-
definition
EPA, Climate Impacts in Alaska. Retrieved March 09, 2016, from
http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts/alaska.html
Himes-Cornell, A., K. Hoelting, C. Maguire, L. Munger-Little, J. Lee, J.
Fisk, R. Felthoven, C. Geller, and P. Little. 2013. Community profiles for
North Pacific fisheries - Alaska. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech.
Memo. NMFS-AFSC-259, Volume 8, 803 p.
U.S Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District(2007, October 12). Alaska
Baseline Erosion Assessment, Erosion Information Paper - Clark's Point,
Alaska (Rep.). Retrieved March 9, 2016, from Corps of Engineers
website:
http://www.poa.usace.army.mil/Library/ReportsandStudies/AlaskaBa
selineErosionAssessments.aspx
U.S Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District (2009, March 3). Alaska
Baseline Erosion Assessment, Erosion Information Paper - Egegik,
Alaska (Rep.). Retrieved March 9, 2016, from Corps of Engineers
website:
http://www.poa.usace.army.mil/Library/ReportsandStudies/AlaskaBa
selineErosionAssessments.aspx
Solutions
Alaskan villages depend on subsistence foods to combat high coasts of living and small amount of jobs Link
potential sites as a concern for their livelihoods.
Not a brownfield site? Research different funding sources
SOLUTIONS
Identify vulnerabilities in your community
Brownfields
TRPs – incorporated climate change observations into inventories
Prevent future brownfields – outreach, response planning, etc.
SOLUTIONS
Make and record observations
Traditional ecological knowledge
LEO Network
Update community action plans
Incorporate climate change into site characterization/cleanup planning
FUNDING & RESOURCES
Brownfields
https://www.epa.gov/brownfields
http://dec.alaska.gov/spar/csp/brownfields.htm
USDA – Rural Development Program
http://www.rd.usda.gov/ak
FUNDING & RESOURCES
BIA Tribal Climate Resilience Program
http://bia.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA/climatechange/
Denali Commission
http://www.denali.gov/index.php
Questions