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HUD and DOT to Partner with EPA in Assisting Communities with Growth Management, Environmental Challenges

Release Date: 09/17/2009
Contact Information: Dave Ryan [email protected] 202-564-7827 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson today announced that four communities will receive technical assistance on growth and development-related issues through the agency’s Smart Growth Implementation Program. The agency also announced that the four communities, chosen from among more than 100 applicants, will also receive help from the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, thanks to the administration’s new Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities.

“For years EPA has provided technical assistance to communities working to become both environmentally and economically sustainable,” said Jackson. “This year, for the first time ever, HUD and DOT will join EPA to coordinate transportation and housing issues with our environmental work. Local governments and developers will have more of the support they need to build communities with affordable housing, low-cost transportation options, maximum environmental benefits and minimal environmental impacts.”

The administrator made the announcement as part of a joint Sustainable Communities tour with DOT, HUD and the White House Office of Urban Affairs.

EPA selected local projects in Kentucky, Maryland, New Mexico, and a statewide program in California from among more than 100 applicants to receive technical assistance in 2009. For the first time, EPA will coordinate its direct assistance to communities with its counterparts from HUD and DOT on issues that relate to housing and transportation. In June, the three agencies joined forces to align their resources to better assist communities as part of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities.

The four projects chosen to receive technical assistance address some of the most challenging growth management and environmental issues facing communities across the country:

• In Louisville, Kentucky, the EPA team will help local officials develop a plan to retrofit a suburban community in ways that will create a more vibrant center where walking, bicycling and public transportation are real options for residents;
• In the Washington suburb of Montgomery County, Maryland, EPA will assist county officials in measuring the effects that land use changes for commercial and multi-family buildings can have on reducing energy consumption and reaching local, state and national climate change goals;
• In Las Cruces, New Mexico, assistance will focus on ways to reinvest in and reinvigorate a struggling, low income commercial corridor without causing gentrification and displacement of existing residents and businesses; and,
• In the State of California, the EPA will assist in the development of a framework that would guide local California jurisdictions in determining which combination of greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies, smart growth practices and sustainability policies are best for their communities.