Remarks of Ben Grumbles
Partners for Smart Growth Conference
Miami Beach, Florida
January 28, 2005
I want to thank our hosts — Secretary Cohen, the city of Miami Beach, the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, and Miami-Dade Transit. I also want to thank the Local Government Commission for sponsoring this conference and for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today. There are many others to thank for sponsoring this conference — a long and growing list of people and groups that reflect the broad commitment to smart growth across the country. EPA is in good company as a sponsor of this event.
Smart Growth, Boundaries, and EPA
Acting Administrator Stephen Johnson sends his regrets for not being able to attend as originally planned. A lot has happened over the last 36 hours. EPA's former Administrator, and long-time supporter of sustainable growth and environmental balance, was sworn in as the new Secretary of HHS Wednesday evening. Mike Leavitt will be missed.
At EPA, our mission is to protect human health and the environment. How and where growth happens affects human health and the environment. When I think about the many issues EPA works with, I am struck by how many are related in some way to growth. Air quality, water quality, brownfields redevelopment, wetlands protection -- all are linked in some way to how and where we grow.
All of us must recognize the importance of boundaries. We must respect that state and local land use decisions are not intended to become federalized decisions. Everyone in this room, particularly EPA employees, should understand that smart growth is not a sustainable philosophy if it envisions a top-down preemptive role for federal agencies in local land use planning.
At the same time, though, EPA is committed to watershed-based approaches that, in a sense, strive to overcome certain boundaries. As former Administrator Mike Leavitt says, "solutions transcend political boundaries." For smart growth, for sustainable watersheds, stakeholders should strive for collaborations that include affected parties and stakeholders, upstream and down. And so, while land use is certainly a local decision, helping communities understand the effect of growth on environmental and public health is an important and appropriate role for EPA.
EPA is committed to supporting communities that want to understand the implications of their growth and plan carefully, particularly on a watershed basis, so that they are prepared for the growth and pleased with its results. Whether you call it "Smart Growth" or "Sustainable Growth" or something else, an increasing number of communities recognize how important it is to look at the "big picture" as they consider what, where and how to build.
Rising Demand for Smart Growth
Ballot initiatives in the November 2004 election showed that voters around the country are concerned about growing traffic congestion, losing open space, and providing public parks. They are also willing to fund solutions. Support was strong in both rural and urban areas for measures to improve public transportation, pedestrian and bike paths, public parks, and land conservation. 135 of the 179 measures on state and local ballots in 2004 passed—that's 75% of the initiatives considered.
Office of Water Priorities
When it comes to water, EPA is focused on watersheds, infrastructure, and coastal ecosystems. I'll talk about each of these and how sustainable growth fits into each.
First, EPA is committed to the concept of the watershed approach. Restoring impaired waters is a key priority for the Office of Water. President Bush's budget continues investment in a "targeted watershed grants program" – we'll soon be asking for proposals for innovative watershed-based projects – with about $10 million available in competitive grants.
On Earth Day last year, the President announced a new policy, moving beyond no net loss of wetlands in America to overall increase of 3 million acres to Americans' wetlands over the next five years.
An important part of the watershed approach includes fostering innovations – watershed-based permitting is one such innovation. And one outcome can be finding opportunities for water quality trading, where a permitted facility can achieve greater efficiency by allowing one source to meet its regulatory obligations by using pollutant reductions created by another source that has lower pollution control costs.
Recognizing the complex relationships among surface water, ground water, and public drinking water supplies, the Office of Water is working to better integrate program activities under both the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Although, the SDWA calls for source water assessments, the Clean Water Act provides many of the tools for states and localities to protect source water.
Last August, we sent a report to Congress on CSO and SSOs. Every year in the US, about 850 billion gallons of untreated wastewater and storm water are released as CSOs. And from 23,000 to 75,000 SSOs occur each year, resulting in release of between 3 billion and 10 billion gallons of untreated wastewater. Clearly, applying smart growth principles will go a long way toward addressing these water quality problems.
We must not forget the challenge of infrastructure – for both drinking water and wastewater. As indicated in EPA's "Gap Analysis Report" from 2002, if investment doesn't increase, the funding gap for the next 20 years could be as much as$122 billion for Clean Water capital costs and $102 billion for Drinking Water capital costs. Even if revenue grows by 3% per year above inflation, the gaps would be$21 billion for Clean Water and $45 billion Drinking Water capital. But funding isn't the only answer. We see four "pillars" as essential for sustainable infrastructure:
The first pillar, water conservation – keeping what we have – involves monitoring, restoring impaired waters and watersheds, and conserving wetlands and water supplies. We all face the pervasive and growing challenge of sustaining infrastructure for both water and wastewater. As population pressures grow, applying smart growth principles will be increasingly important to assure adequate supplies of safe, clean water and adequate capacity to treat wastewater.
I've already talked about the watershed approach – where monitoring, assessing, program integration, and program implementation at the watershed level are essential tools for smart growth.
The third pillar is better management at the local or facility level. By better management, I mean the suite of opportunities that include: asset management; environmental management systems; capacity development; and related systems through which successful enterprises are managed effectively. Better management includes not only the efficiency aspects of running a business, but also a concern for improved outcomes, better compliance and improved public accountability.
The fourth pillar is full-cost pricing. Pricing that recovers all of the costs of building, operating, and maintaining a system is absolutely essential to achieving sustainability. Of course, full-cost pricing depends upon complete and accurate metering of water usage in order to charge users for what they actually consume. Using conservation rates and seasonal rates can further help reduce peak water demand.
EPA is also focused on our coasts – more than half of the US population lives near coastal waters today, and coastal populations are increasing by about 3600 people a day. I'll talk more about our efforts later, but I want to highlight two recent actions:
EPA just released the second National Coastal Condition Report. This is the second edition of the report, and it provides a continuing foundation for EPA's efforts to protect, manage, and restore coastal ecosystems.
Yesterday, EPA's Administrator and the Administrator of NOAA signed a Memorandum of Agreement to promote better development in coastal communities. The focus of the partnership is to help state and local innovations in developing environmentally sound port facilities, revitalizing waterfront areas, improving marine transportation, and protecting and restoring critical habitat.
When it comes to protecting water resources, one size does not fit all. Should development of forested land be subject to the same requirements as the redevelopment of a parking lot? Imagine on one hand a redevelopment that converts an abandoned parking lot into a mixed-use building and, on the other hand, a project that replaces forest land with new development. Should both of these be subject to the same stormwater management requirements? Clearly, development in different locations can have different water quality impacts.
Research over the past 20 years has demonstrated a strong correlation between impervious surfaces – roads, roofs, parking lots – and degradation of water quality. That being the case, I think most of us would agree that redeveloping an impervious parking lot in a community that already has water infrastructure is preferable to developing for the first time a natural area like "greenfields" or forested lands.
As most of you know, infill development is a key smart growth strategy. Reusing our already developed land is one of the best ways to recycle. Communities are turning brownfields and brown lots to green fields and forested plots. Redeveloping existing impervious surfaces can also have significant water benefits.
For example, the hypothetical abandoned parking I described would likely be close to 100% impervious – all asphalt. Redeveloping that parcel will not only mean preserving undeveloped property elsewhere. Redeveloping the parking lot will not increase stormwater runoff, sedimentation, or flooding. In some cases, with Low Impact Development Techniques, the resulting redevelopment can actually decrease stormwater runoff.
Just such a success story is the redevelopment of an abandoned mall not far from here where smart growth was not only good for the environment — it was good for the economy too. The development of Mizner Park in Boca Raton transformed 29 acres of buildings and parking lots into 272 apartments and condos and 260,000 square feet of stores and offices. In addition, redevelopment reduced impervious cover by 15%. This was done by adding a park, an amphitheater, and other small gardens. As an added bonus to the local government, the value of the parcel increased from $26.8 million to $68 million after the redevelopment.
Under existing EPA regulations and guidance, state and local governments have enough flexibility to treat infill development favorably. We are pleased that some are doing so, and we hope to see more of it in the future. Places such as the State of California; Oshkosh, Wisconsin; and Fairfax, Virginia are changing how they regulate water. With their Asphalt Renewal Programs, they are making it easier to redevelop existing impervious surfaces. This kind of innovative thinking about water regulations is great.
And I would like to appeal to all of you to help drive further innovation. There are still some tough questions out there about water issues and development patterns. Let me give you a couple of examples:
In some areas where infill development would make perfect sense, the water infrastructure either needs repair or is not adequately sized to handle additional development. How can this be addressed without putting an additional barrier up for developers who want to do infill?
We also need innovative thinking around the concept of density and water quality. Conventional wisdom and common practice assumes that lower density development (such as zoning that limits density to one housing unit per acre or one unit per two acres) will provide enough open space to maintain water quality. However, recent research doesn't bear that out. Dispersed, low-density development can exacerbate non-point source pollutant loadings.
That happens when natural areas that infiltrate storm water are converted in a way that increases impervious surfaces and decreases groundwater recharge. Then the volume and rate of stormwater runoff increases dramatically. More research is needed, but we can say that low-density, large lot-development is not automatically more protective of water resources.
This suggests that sometimes regulations aimed at protecting water resources should be designed to encourage higher-density development that consumes less land, takes advantage of existing infrastructure, and minimizes overall imperviousness within a watershed. These are the types of issues EPA continues to examine, and I hope you will share your views and ideas about water and development with us.
One productive role EPA can play is to highlight some strategies that states and communities are already putting into practice. We did this recently with our new document "Protecting Water Resources with Smart Growth." This document describes 75 policies that communities have used to integrate their growth and development and water quality goals. Since July, we've received over 70,000 requests for this document – in our world, that makes it a bestseller! You can get a free copy of this publication at the Smart Growth Network booth in the exhibit hall.
EPA wants to help communities realize Sustainable Infrastructure. About 860 billion gallons of untreated wastewater enters our waters every year through CSOs and SSOs As I mentioned earlier, the funding gap for the next 20 years could be as much as $130 billion. The Agency remains committed to the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs). These are highly successful programs help us address the funding gap and provide funds for a wide variety of priority projects to clean up watersheds and maintain an effective water infrastructure.
EPA remains committed to the SRF programs and will continue to provide capitalization funding to increase their reach and effectiveness. We have reached a significant milestone in the program's history. We estimate that the cumulative capitalization of the 51 SRF programs now tops $50 billion. That's real money! I'm committed to ensuring the future of the SRF program and EPA is working with Congress on draft language for reauthorization of both the Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water SRFs.
Decentralized Waste Treatment Systems MOU
A couple of weeks ago, I joined CEOs from several professional and trade organizations in signing a Memorandum of Understanding that will help improve the management of decentralized wastewater treatment systems (otherwise known as septic systems) across the country.
Some sources have cited failing septic systems as the second largest threat to water quality in the U.S. 25% of the households in the U.S. use these systems. A third of all new developments — both rural and urban — rely on them, so the proper use of septic systems is a critical component of smart growth. The MOU we signed is an example of good government at its best S this voluntary program will succeed because the business and academic community are committed to a positive outcome.
Our Coasts
Walt Whitman wrote, "To me, the sea is a continual miracle." We are drawn to live, work, and play near that miracle. More than half of the US population lives near coastal waters. With coastal populations increasing by about 3600 people per day, these highly productive and fragile areas need careful management and protection. How we accommodate future growth in coastal areas will have significant ecological and economic consequences.
Coastal and marine waters support over 28 million jobs, while providing tourist destinations for 189 million Americans each year. U.S. consumers spend over $55 billion for fishery products annually.
EPA has just released the second National Coastal Condition Report (NCRR II). This report is based on data collected by both the federal government and states. It indicates that the overall health of our coasts is "fair." While there is some regional variation, it is clear that our coasts – and the resources that depend upon them – are at risk.
Interagency and State partnerships (Coastal States, EPA, NOAA, USFWS and USGS) have been strengthened as a result of the technology transfer, data-sharing and analysis was necessary to create this report. This second edition of the National Coastal Condition Report serves as a continuing foundation for EPA's efforts to protect, manage, and restore coastal ecosystems. You can find the report on EPA's web site.
MOA with NOAA
This month, EPA's Administrator and Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher -- the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- signed a Memorandum of Agreement to promote better development in coastal communities. This effort follows on the heels of the successful "Portfields" Memorandum of Agreement that NOAA and EPA signed earlier this year. That agreement focuses on developing environmentally sound port facilities and, in the process, revitalizing waterfront areas, improving marine transportation, and protecting and restoring critical habitat.
The EPA-NOAA Agreement on Coastal Community Development is a critical step forward. Population in coastal watersheds is growing rapidly — coastal areas will absorb more than half of U.S. population growth in the coming decades. 55% of the U.S. population already lives within 50 miles of a coast.
Coastal areas are also economically important – nationally, regionally, and locally. For example, in just four South Florida coastal counties, including the one we're in right now, recreational diving, fishing, and ocean-watching activities annually generate $4.4 billion in local sales and almost $2 billion in local income. These activities depend not only on clean water, but also on vibrant, distinctive communities that offer their visitors a unique experience.
Commission on Ocean Policy
This past September, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy released a report that highlights the challenges facing our coastal areas. It recommended that federal agencies—particularly EPA and NOAA—should increase assistance and outreach to give decision-makers the knowledge and tools to make sound land use decisions that protect coastal water quality.
EPA and NOAA have responded. Our new partnership will support state and local development innovations by providing:
- training for local governments;
- citizen workshops in cooperation with local governments;
- a clearinghouse of policies, ordinances, and initiatives;
- assessments of local development policies; and,
- expert teams to work on locally identified issues.
These coordinated Federal, State, and Local Government partnerships are also a critical part of the Presidents Executive Order on the Facilitation of Cooperative Conservation.
EPA's New Partners/Awards
Our collaboration with NOAA is just one example of EPA responding to the growing interest in smart growth. And interest in growth issues is coming from folks you might not have seen at a smart growth conference several years ago.
EPA is also working with the Department of Defense and local communities to redevelop decommissioned bases in ways that enhance the areas around them. EPA and the U.S. Army's Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, through the Army Corps of Engineers, entered into an agreement last November to establish a collaborative watershed partnership.
It makes good sense – environmentally, financially, and socially – by focusing on sustainable economic development, protection, and restoration efforts in a public, inclusive, and collaborative manner at the national, regional, and local watershed level. The partnership agreement will facilitate communication among all stakeholders and interested parties, enhance data exchange, and promote the development of innovative approaches to water resource and watershed management.
This agreement will help EPA and the Corps work together to try to resolve conflicts and seek consensus among the many different interests within a watershed concerning the future of these critical national resources.
EPA also works with national, state, and local public health officials to better understand the connections between the built environment and public health. And now we have a very good friend at HHS—our former Administrator Mike Leavitt. We look forward to working with him on these issues in his new job as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Another profession that has recently become more interested in smart growth is school facility planners. EPA partners with the Council of Educational Facility Planners to educate their members on how they can use smart growth principles to build schools that better serve students, staff, parents, and the entire community.
These are just a few of the EPA's many partners in promoting more environmentally responsible development. EPA is also proud to be a member of the Smart Growth Network. This coalition of 37 organizations has extensive resources to educate people about building better communities. I urge you all to visit the Smart Growth Network booth in the exhibit hall.
Recognizing Leaders
Putting the principles of smart growth into action requires state and local responsibility and leadership. One way that EPA is supporting local leaders is by finding great examples of smart growth and making sure that a lot of people know about them.
Every year, the EPA Smart Growth Achievement Awards celebrate communities that demonstrate excellent projects and policies to promote better development. There are many creative, innovative projects that communities — large and small; urban, suburban, and rural — are implementing to improve their quality of life, boost their economy, and protect their environment. Communities across the country can learn from the leadership shown by the winners of these awards. I know that many of you come from places with great stories to tell, and I hope you will consider applying for this award in the future.
Closing
Communities around the nation are looking at the big picture and planning for future growth. They are using smart growth techniques to create strong and prosperous places for generations to come. Smart Growth is about being good stewards of our communities and of our rural lands, our water resources, parks, and forests. It is about ensuring that the best of the past is preserved, while creating new communities that are attractive, vital, and enduring.
At EPA we are determined and excited to do our part as communities search for development strategies that grow their economies, build their neighborhoods, and protect the environment.
I'll close with the writing on the wall of the National Aquarium in Baltimore: "If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water." If there is magic in Smart Growth, it is contained in this room – capture it and use it. Use it appropriately. Use it in a way that respects local decision-making but also acknowledges sustainable solutions occur on a watershed basis.
EPA looks forward to working with you.
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