by Andrea Poinsett, GEI Consultants, Inc.

In December 2017, I was a first-time attendee to USEPA’s National Brownfields Training Conference (Brownfields 2017) held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a city known for its steel industry, demise, and subsequent revival.  Pittsburgh was also the location of the first Brownfields Conference about 20 years ago, making it a fitting location to show how progress can be made.  The goal of my first time at this conference was to absorb as much of all aspects of the conference that I could from the learning sessions to the networking to the exhibit hall.  

Inspiration from the Plenary Sessions:  A speaker during the Mayors Roundtable  said something that stuck with me because one issue always seems to be the cost of remediation and redevelopment.  The Mayor said that people question the cost of things when they don’t understand the value of those costs.  As a scientist and a consultant, I am constantly challenged to be the translator between the law and regulations and the client, who typically isn’t in the environmental business  People need to know that what they’re paying is worth their hard-earned dollars.  To remediate and redevelop brownfields, we need do show the community that the cost is worth it, that the value gained far exceeds the costs.  

Another speaker, a native of Pittsburgh spoke with passion about the changing face of the city where he grew up to the revitalized city that it is today.  One of the main takeaways from this session was don’t ever give up. 

By far my favorite evening event was the Community Reception held in the Senator John Heinz History Center.  BCONE was a proud sponsor of this event.  The Center was open for exploring during the event;  it was spacious, well attended and the if you were lucky enough, you got to talk with the curator who pointed you to the special collections area of the museum and the Mr. Rogers’s neighborhood exhibit. How cool to have a beer and eat lo mein with Fred Rogers!  

This conference is worthwhile for the diverse attendance and the number of attendees.  I met people from across the country.  I met representatives from Alaska who have their own unique brownfields issues, to people running nationwide non-profits looking for consultants, to vendors selling unique remediation products.  There were a variety of educational sessions-- with some unfortunately overlapping, forcing you to make the difficult decision as to which talk to attend.  The quality of the presentations, variety of sessions, and things to do made this a worthwhile experience for a first-time attendee.  I hope I get to go again.