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

THANK YOU! Eric Byous

byous.eric@epa.gov

415.972.3531

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