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National
EPA Joins HUD, DOT in Partnership for Sustainable Communities
''Where you live affects how you get around, and how you get around often affects where you live. Both decisions affect our environment. In order to have the most effective greenhouse gas reduction strategy, we should have a strategy to reduce vehicle miles traveled. In order to provide truly affordable housing, we should take into account what residents must pay for transportation, energy, and water,'' testified EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, announcing EPA's entry into the three-agency Partnership for Sustainable Communities -- spearheaded by Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood -- and stressing that ''(s)mart growth principles are equally important in urban, suburban and rural areas.''
The partnership, Administrator Jackson said, gives the agencies ''an opportunity to share knowledge, resources, and strategies that will improve public health and the environment, cut costs and harmful emissions from transportation, and build more affordable homes in communities all over the country.''
Noting that land use decisions ''are, and should be, primarily made at the local, state, and tribal level,'' but also that ''federal policies, rules, and spending influence development patterns,'' she told the committee: ''We have an interest -- indeed, an obligation -- to ensure that our actions do not favor development that adversely affects the environment and public health.''
When it pollutes the air, waterways and drinking water or ''disproportionally harms disadvantaged communities,'' she stated, ''it is a federal responsibility in general -- and specifically an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) responsibility -- to protect Americans from these problems.''
Through their partnership, she continued, the three agencies will work together for well-designed, energy-efficient, and affordable housing; for an integrated transportation, land use, and environmental planning system, with more options for reaching jobs, schools and services; and for clean waterways, air and land.
''We have created a framework that will guide the cooperative development of policies, regulations, spending priorities, and legislative proposals,'' the administrator said. ''Together, these development strategies emphasize environmental, economic, cultural, and social sustainability. Our collective implementation of those policies at state, local, and tribal levels will assure that we accommodate our nation's anticipated growth in smarter, more sustainable ways.''
As ''a real world example,'' she cited EPA-championed reclamation and redevelopment of the 138-acre Atlantic Steel Mill brownfield in Atlanta, Georgia into dense mixed-use Atlantic Station --''a national model for smart growth.''
With 6 million square feet of LEED-certified offices, 2 million square feet of retail and entertainment space, 1000 hotel rooms, Atlantic Station will eventually offer 3,000 to 5,000 residential housing units.
Its shuttle to a commuter rail stop already circulates 1 million people a year, space for anticipated light rail is reserved, and residents drive ''an average of less than 14 miles per day,'' in contrast to 32 miles driven by other Atlantans.
What's more, compact and efficient land use ''reduced annual stormwater runoff by almost 20 million cubic feet a year.''
Turning to healthy communities and equitable development, Administrator Jackson focused on the prospect of joint EPA-DOT-HUD work ''to revitalize neighborhoods that have suffered from decades of disinvestment,'' and that contain many of the estimated 450,000 brownfields nationwide.
Though brownfield redevelopment is often difficult, especially for disadvantaged communities, she testified, their proximity to transportation and services are crucial ''to transforming years of disinvestment into a future of prosperity,'' with ''employment and educational opportunities, safe and affordable homes, access to recreation, health care, and other needs of daily life, all close enough together that people can choose to safely walk, bike, or take transit instead of driving.''
Since market demand for such neighborhoods all over the country is so strong that it ''has driven up housing costs in many smart growth area, too often putting them off-limits to lower-income residents,'' EPA is already working ''to create more environmentally responsible affordable housing in these neighborhoods,'' she said, mentioning recent EPA Smart Growth Program help for four communities in the Hartford, Connecticut area.
''As a nation, we face the most serious economic downturn since the Great Depression,'' Administrator Jackson concluded. ''At the same time that we face this economic crisis, there is not a moment to lose in protecting public health, the environment, and confronting the rapid advance of climate change.'' -- U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 6/16/2009
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