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U.S.-GERMAN BILATERAL WORKING GROUP PHASE 3 ACTIVITIES-AN OVERVIEW
Citation:
VEGA, A. M. AND J. BRAUN. U.S.-GERMAN BILATERAL WORKING GROUP PHASE 3 ACTIVITIES-AN OVERVIEW. Presented at U.S. German-Bilateral Working Group-Brownfield Redevelopment: Challenges, Solutions, Benefits, Denver, CO, October 31 - November 01, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
to present information
Description:
The U.S.-German Bilateral Working Group originated in 1990 in order to share and transfer information, ideas, tools and techniques regarding environmental research. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) developed this partnerhsip. In 2000, EPA and BMBF decided to expand their working group and to continue their cooperative activities in Phase 3 with a focus on removing obstacles to the revitalization of potentially contaminated sites. During Phase 3, products were developed in each country that will continue to be tested and refined over the next several years. The U.S.-German Bilateral Working Group follows in a systematic approach for each bilateral phase. For Phase 3 this included five steps: (1) baseline workshops, (2) feasibility studies, (3) product development, (4) beta testing of products, and finally (5) transferring information, tools, techniques, and approaches through publications, websites, and conference presentations. Baseline workshops (step 1) were held in each country to identify potential revitalization obstacles. Following the baseline workshops, EPA and BMBF developed feasibility study reports (step 2) to compile the information regarding obstacles collected from the baseline workshop participants and to decide which obstacles would be researched further by the Bilateral Working Group. In Step 3, the EPA and BMBF determined that two tools (one in the U.S. and One in Germany) would be developed to assist revitalization stakeholders to overcome the obstacles identified: Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools-electronic (SMARTe) in the U.S. and START-UP Gudiance in Germany. Prior to and during development of these products, EPA and BMBF determined where data gaps existed and then jointly developed and held five workshops in order to collect further information to fill these gaps. The topics were: (1) Economic tools-Charlotte, North Carolina in November 2002; (2) Project Management and Marketing-Saarbruecken, Germany in May, 2003; (3) Environmental Risk Assessment and Communication-Portland, Oregon in October 2003; (4) Social Acceptance-Leipzig, Germany in June 2004; and (5) Sustainable Reuse-St. Louis, Missouri in September 2004. Information collected from these workshops in addition to the literature, internet, model projects (projects that were considered successful in some aspect of revitalization), conferences, and discussions were incorporated into SMARTe and the START-UP Guidance. These products are currently being tested (step 4) to improve their usefulness and usability, and in the case of SMARTe, to guide its further development. This conference is part of step 5-transferring information about the activities and products of the U.S.-German Bilateral Working Group. A conference very similar to this was held in Berlin, Germany in April 2005. Additionally, webcasts, workshops and conferences are being used to introduce/demonstrate SMARTe and START-UP Guidance to potential users and to raise the awareness of the existence of these tools and their status.