Industry professionals; federal, state, and tribal agencies; and community members came together to share brownfields-redevelopment best practices.
August 10, 2023
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Professionals from across the United States gathered for the 2023 National Brownfields Training Conference in Detroit Aug. 8-11. Stakeholders, government employees and contractors, and community members participated in more than 180 panels, town halls, roundtables, and discussions to share knowledge of remediation and contaminated-property redevelopment, also known as “brownfields.”
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Beneficial Reuse Asset Manager Diana Kamenel Trettin, STEM with LM Coordinator Shawn Montgomery, LM Asset Manager Bud Sokolovich, and LM strategic partners attended and participated in the conference.
This year’s conference featured educational program speakers, mobile workshops, study examples, a poster gallery, regional open houses, networking events, and an exhibit hall hosted by federal agencies, engineering firms, developers, nonprofits, and other organizations.
LM staff prepared a poster for the poster gallery that showcased the LM Colonie, New York, Site. The poster highlighted site history and the collaboration efforts between LM and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers so that the site could be used for residential and commercial use. The poster also explained that the land sold to a private developer who is exploring a variety of reuse options.
“This conference is a great opportunity for us to learn from others and share our knowledge of beneficial reuse,” Kamenel Trettin said. “Colonie is a great example of a site that LM was able to help partner with other federal agencies to make available for community reuse.”
At the conference, LM also received the 2023 Phoenix Award from EPA Region 8, for the success of Las Colonias, formerly the Grand Junction Processing Site, in Grand Junction, Colorado.
The Phoenix Awards recognize the progression of the brownfield redevelopment over the past 20 years by awarding outstanding projects and professionals. Kamenel Trettin accepted the award on LM’s behalf at an Aug. 9 ceremony.
“We are excited to be able to attend this year’s Brownfields conference,” Sokolovich said. “It is always exciting to be able to learn about other projects and developments across the country.”
LM also hosted a booth in the conference exhibit hall Aug. 9-10, where staff answered conference attendees' questions about STEM with LM, LM’s mission and goals, and provided information about ongoing and completed beneficial reuse and long-stewardship projects at LM sites.
“It’s important to continually improve and expand our STEM with LM program,” Montgomery added. “We want to use as many opportunities as we can to attract more students and get more people involved in STEM careers, and this conference is a great way to do that.”