Characterizing Brownfields

Characterizing Brownfields

Course Outline

This eight hour course provides valuable information for those individuals who participate in the technical approaches to investigating, characterizing and cleaning up a brownfield site, and the federal statutes and US EPA policies associated with them. Completion of this course will provide the student the necessary information and testing to meet the continuing education requirements in order to renew their licenses. It was designed by an instructor who has developed and implemented numerous similar training courses.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will be able to:

Understand the requirements of CERCLA;
Understand the requirements of RCRA;
Understand the innocent landowner defense;
Understand the limitations of fiduciary liability;
Understand the requirements for a de minimis contributor;
Understand the UST lender liability;
Understand the HWIR for contaminated media;
Understand the EPA policy towards owners of residential property at Superfund sites;
Understand the EPA policy towards owners of property with contaminated aquifers;
Understand the EPA policy on the issuing of EPA comfort/status letters;
Understand the RCRA CAMU amendments;
Understand the requirement of the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act;
Understand the EPA Brownfields Road Map basics;
Understand where redevelopment fits in to the program;
Understand industry practices;
Understand how to compare innovative technologies;
Understand where to find information on brownfield clean up technologies;
Understand what a data quality objective is;
Understand the links between decisions, data and technology;
Understand which standards for conducting a site assessment;
Understand the Superfund Redevelopment Initiative;
Understand the elements of “All Appropriate Inquiry”;
Understand where to find resources to address site investigations;
Understand the principles of the Triad approach to site investigations;
Understand how to determine clean up options;
Understand how to develop and carry out detailed cleanup plans;
Understand the elements of a low risk site;
Understand the elements of a high risk site;
Understand the various types of brownfield sites;
Understand the role of EPA and the state governments in site assessments and due diligence;
Understand how to perform a site assessment;
Understand the elements that comprise due diligence;
Understand how to set DQO’s;
Understand how to establish screening levels;
Understand how to conduct environmental sampling;
Understand how to conduct data analysis;
Understand how to evaluate remediation alternatives;
Understand how to conduct a screening analysis;
Understand how to select the best remedial options;
Understand how to develop a remediation implementation plan;
Understand key acronyms;
Understand various testing technologies;
Understand various cleanup technologies;
Understand remediation implementation;
Understand the elements of a Phase I site assessment process;
Understand the elements of a Phase II site investigations;
Understand the elements of a financial analysis; and
Understand the elements of a legal liability analysis.

Intended Audience

The intended audience for this course is any professional who is involved in investigating, characterizing and cleaning up a brownfield site and those who have to manage such sites as a part of their business.

Benefit to Attendees

Attendees of this course will understand the technical approaches to investigating, characterizing and cleaning up a brownfield site, and the federal statutes and US EPA policies associated with them.

Course Introduction

The US EPA defines a brownfield industrial site as one which is abandoned, idle or under-used where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. Concerns may be the result of liability, cost, or potential health risks. As a result of businesses seeking “greenfields”, communities are burdened with environmental contamination, declining property values, loss of tax revenues and increased unemployment.

Course Content

This course is based upon the following US EPA documents:

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Course Summary

This course discusses the elements of investigating, characterizing and remediating brownfield sites and the Federal statutes and US EPA policies covering them.

Related Links

For additional information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:

US Environmental Protection Agency

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.