An Environmental Report Card - and Road
Map - For the Clean-up Industry Itself
How do we fix the environment without causing more
damage in the process?
NEW YORK, July 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Sustainable Remediation
Forum (SURF) today issued the first comprehensive, independent assessment
of sustainable remediation -- a movement to encourage environmental
clean-ups that minimize
carbon emissions, conserve fossil fuels and still remove
potentially dangerous contaminants from soil and water.
The Sustainable Remediation Forum White Paper is available upon request
from SURF and is also being published in a special summer 2009 issue of
Remediation Journal.
Former EPA Administrator and
New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman called the white paper's
release "a watershed event in
public policy deliberations about
environmental remediation."
"For the first time, scientists, regulators and responsible parties are
questioning whether a clean-up that releases tons of carbon emissions into
the air in order to remove a few pounds of contaminants from the soil
provides a net environmental benefit to the public," Whitman said. "It's
crucial that 21st century environmental clean-ups burn less fuel, emit
less greenhouse gas
and still protect human health and the environment."
Large environmental clean-ups often come with a hidden cost: The
environmental impact of the clean-up itself. Getting rid of contamination
and preparing affected land for reuse requires substantial energy, water
and other natural resources. It also may involve excavation and disposal
of
polluted soil and groundwater, installation and operation of large
pumps, treatment vessels and other equipment, and possible discharge of
carcinogens, greenhouse
gases and other harmful materials into the environment.
To address these challenges, a group of senior environmental scientists,
regulators and engineers organized the Sustainable Remediation Forum in
2006. Since then, the group has met regularly to advance sustainable
clean-up practices and begin developing a vision, tools and metrics to
help move the industry toward greater sustainability.
"SURF's mission is to make every phase of every clean-up more
sustainable," said Dr. David E. Ellis, a geochemist and the group's
founder. "Regulators, businesses and the public have become increasingly
aware of site remediation, and they're demanding clean-ups with smaller
environmental footprints. This white paper represents a cohesive,
collaborative effort to find better ways of restoring contaminated sites."
As the paper notes,
technological advances now make it possible to reduce the unwanted
effects of remediation, reduce
energy consumption
and still provide long-term protection of people and the environment.
State and federal agencies are starting to assess and apply sustainable
remediation in their regulatory programs.
Besides summarizing the status of sustainable remediation programs in the
U.S. and elsewhere, the SURF White Paper describes current progress toward
an industry-wide consensus on sustainability concepts and practices;
discusses the developments needed to overcome existing obstacles to
adoption of green remediation strategies, and presents case studies
showing sustainable approaches in practice.
The Sustainable Remediation Forum (SURF) was founded in 2006 as a
collaborative forum focused on developing the ability to use
sustainability concepts in remedial action decision-making. SURF's
chairman, David E. Ellis, Ph.D., leads the
science and technology
program in the DuPont Corporate Remediation Group. Active forum
members now represent nearly 60
industrial groups
and enterprises, government agencies, environmental groups, consulting
firms and academic
institutions.
For further information, please visit SURF online at
www.sustainableremediation.org. The white paper is available
at
http://www.sustainableremediation.org/library/issue-papers. |