Meet John Pendergrass

"Achieving sustainable, productive uses of brownfields while protecting public health over the long term will require creative use of a variety of existing tools, and possibly some newly created ones," says Senior Attorney John Pendergrass.

Most of the initiative for recycling vacant urban hazardous waste sites is coming from the states. Director of ELI’s Center for State, Local, and Regional Environmental Programs since 1990, Pendergrass leads the research team that puts together the Institute’s biennial 50-state Analysis of State Superfund Programs. This job has given him a front-row seat for the brownfields redevelopment movement. And Pendergrass is a leading voice in finding and designing those tools necessary to make sustainable brownfields redevelopment a reality.

Unlike regular state superfund cleanups, state brownfields programs generally are voluntary efforts by businesses that want to move quickly to limit their cleanup liability, and to benefit by recycling the land as a productive commercial or industrial site. Brownfields usually are cleaned up to a standard based on the planned use of the site, which can benefit communities by encouraging quicker cleanups and bringing in new businesses. This policy can only work, however, if the land continues to be used in ways that are compatible with the level of cleanup and that continue to protect people from exposure to residual contaminants. ELI is pioneering methods of ensuring that the "institutional controls" placed on these sites — such as deed restrictions, zoning, and warning signs — are effective, now and in the future.

"It is difficult to achieve, but an effective marriage of cleanup, redevelopment, and institutional controls improves the local economy, revitalizes neighborhoods, and protects public health and the environment."