Location:
Fort Edward, New York

Contact:
Mr. Vince Pitruzzello
US Environmental Protection Agency Region 2
EERD-18th Floor, 290 Broadway, New York, NY 10007-1866
(212) 637-4354

The single largest USEPA dredging remediation project is slated to begin in upstate New York on the Hudson River. The Town of Fort Edward will be the community of greatest impact, having hosted the General Electric plant that contributed to the contamination. Serving as the location for the contaminated sediment dewatering facility, and containing several miles of riverfront where dredging is slated to occur. Residents of the Town of Fort Edward have lived under the specter of this mega-superfund project and associated stigma with the PCB-contaminated river sediments for well over three decades. As the dredging activities begin, the Town wants to implement grand scale, sweeping community revitalization initiatives.

Brownfield Redevelopment Solutions, Inc. (BRS) offered substantial community outreach and meeting facilitation, assisting the Town of Fort Edward with neighborhood revitalization initiatives and working for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region 2 Brownfields Team to deliver outreach services to this community.

BRS devised a clear strategy, providing the Town of Fort Edward with a platform to discuss technical, financial and administrative needs with federal and state agencies in an effort to obtain resources to realize their revitalization objectives.

The Fort Edward Interagency Working Group meetings are a long-term commitment by the USEPA to provide forums where the Town presents priority redevelopment projects and requests assistance from participating federal and state agencies. BRS works with communities to identify the top priority projects and required resources, assisting with stakeholder identification, and facilitating meetings. BRS develops an action plan as a result of each meeting, which outlines agency commitments and activities to move projects toward completion.