Re-energizing Contaminated Land: Alternative Energy Reuse at Superfund Sites
SRI and the Regions have begun to help site stakeholders explore alternative energy opportunities through reuse planning processes and pre-feasibility energy analyses. Sites where these activities are currently taking place include:
Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant, Karnack, TX
- 2009 Return to Use demonstration project (PDF) (2 pp, 376K)
Cherokee County, Galena, KS
- 2009 Return to Use demonstration project (PDF) (2 pp, 37K)
Tar Lake, Mancelona Township, MI
Apache Powder, Saint David, AZ
Gas-to-energy equipment at the methane power plant at the Lowry Landfill site in Colorado. This 3.2-MW facility serves 3,000 residences.
2.5-MW wind turbines at the Steel Winds project in Lackawanna, New York. In early 2007, eight Clipper Liberty windmills were constructed on 30-acresof the former Bethlehem Steel facility. The project is the largest urban wind farm in the United States, and the first to be located on a former Superfund and industrial brownfield site. Source: BQ Energy
Crops at the Rose Township site in Rose Township, MI. In 2006, Michigan State University began an investigation into the potential for certain crops, including switchgrass and soybeans, grown at the site to be refined into renewable fuels. The fuels have been tested at the National Biofuels Energy Laboratory, located in Detroit.
Additional Resources
Examples of Site Reuse Activities Involving Alternative Energy
Overview
EPA has placed national priority on highlighting opportunities for the development of clean and renewable energy projects on contaminated lands.
As part of this effort, EPA is working to help translate these opportunities into physical realities for communities across the country. EPA’s Superfund Redevelopment Initiative (SRI) helps communities reclaim and reuse contaminated lands for a wide range of purposes, including alternative energy. Through an array of tools, partnerships and activities, SRI continues to provide local communities with new opportunities to grow and prosper. With each new success, SRI is working to capture key lessons through case studies and fact sheets. As these documents are finalized, they will be posted on SRI’s website.
To date, several significant renewable energy opportunities have been realized. In Lackawanna, New York, the Steel Winds project has transformed a former slag pile into a 20-megawatt wind energy facility. In Rose Township, Michigan, soybeans, corn, sunflowers, canola and switchgrass planted at a former sludge disposal site have been harvested for the production of renewable biofuels. A former landfill in Aurora, Colorado now provides 3.2-megawatts of electrical power to homes and businesses though a new methane gas-to-energy plant.
Additional Resources
This webpage captures alternative energy activities at Superfund sites where the Agency has historically or is currently supporting reuse activities. For information about additional sites supporting or seeking to support alternative energy, visit:
- Re-Powering America’s Land: This initiative identifies the renewable energy potential of these sites and provides other useful resources for communities, developers, industry, state and local governments or anyone interested in reusing these sites for renewable energy development
http://www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland/successstories.htm. - Landfill Methane Outreach Program: EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) is a voluntary assistance program that helps to reduce methane emissions from landfills by encouraging the recovery and beneficial use of landfill gas (LFG) as an energy resource.
http://www.epa.gov/lmop/ - Clean Energy Programs: EPA’s Clean Energy Programs are working with state policy makers, electric and gas utilities, energy customers, and other key stakeholders. These programs work to identify, design and implement clean energy policy and technology solutions.
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/ - Green Power and Renewable Energy: This EPA effort provides information on green power and renewable energy.
http://www.epa.gov/oaintrnt/greenpower/index.htm - State and local climate and energy program: This program provides resources to state and local government on renewable energy topics.
http://www.epa.gov/statelocalclimate/state/topics/renewable.html - Combined heat and power partnership: This resource provides information on biomass as a renewable energy source.
http://www.epa.gov/chp/basic/renewable.html - Technology Innovation and Field Services Division(TIFSD) Green Remediation Focus: TIFSD’s CLU-IN website provides information and case studies on EPA’s green remediation efforts.
http://www.clu-in.org/greenremediation/
Some of the sites listed below are exploring reuse activities while simultaneously using green remediation as an alternative energy source.
Examples of Site Reuse Activities Involving Alternative Energy
Methane Gas to Energy Sites
H.O.D. Landfill, Antioch, IL
Lexington County Landfill Area, Cayce, SC
Lowry Landfill, Aurora, CO
Modern Sanitation Landfill, Lower Windsor Township, PA
Molycorp, Inc., Questa, NM
Old Bethpage Landfill, Oyster Bay, NY
Operating Industries, Inc., Landfill, Monterey Park, CA
Southside Sanitary Landfill, Indianapolis, IN
Taylor Road Landfill, Hillsborough County, FL
Other Alternative Energy Sites
Aerojet General, Rancho Cordova, CA
Apache Powder, Saint David, AZ
- 2009 Return to Use demonstration project (PDF) (2 pp, 100K)
- Evaluating Renewable Energy Opportunites at the Apache Powder Superfund Site (PDF) (14 pp, 9.1MB)
- Alternative Energy Site Reuse Snapshot
Bayou Bonfouca, Slidell, LA
Bethlehem Steel (not NPL), Lackawanna, NY
Boyle Galvanizing (not NPL), Philadelphia, PA
Pemaco Maywood, Maywood, CA
Resin Disposal, Jefferson Borough, PA
Rose Township Dump, Rose Township, MI
Summitville Mine, Rio Grande County, CO