ABSTRACT
As a result of its unique geographic location in the Great Lakes region, its 19th- and 20th-century industrial heritage, and recent state, national and global economic transformations, Michigan has been left with a significant number of contaminated brownfield sites throughout its Great Lakes coastal areas. These brownfield sites are defined by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as “real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant” (U.S. EPA 2006). The term “brownfield” came into use during the 1970s among planners and others involved in economic development work in the US. However, the term originally referred to any previously developed property, irrespective of contamination issues (Yount 2003: 26–7). The current official use of “brownfield” as a contaminated site came into use in 1992 at a US congressional field hearing hosted by the Northeast Midwest congressional Coalition. Since then the federal government has promoted the re-use of brownfields, largely because of the existing infrastructure and buildings already in place for such previously utilized properties.
