The West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Centers will be hosting their annual West Virginia Brownfields Conference on Sept. 11 and 12. The 9th annual conference combines exceptional educational programs with outstanding networking opportunities between communities, development professionals and service providers involved in brownfield redevelopment.

In the past, the conference has featured numerous topics related to brownfield redevelopment including: building demolition and environmental threats; sustainability and economic development; site control issues; land banks; community planning and engagement; financing projects; and legal issues.

Brownfields include all property that is hindered from redevelopment or reuse due to the presence or perceived presence of a hazardous substance or contaminant. The West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Centers were created in 2005 by the West Virginia Legislature to empower communities to plan and implement redevelopment projects.

New for this year, conference organizers are seeking fresh perspectives on these and other issues for the event, which will be held at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, West Virginia.

“Each year, we try to cover the latest topics,” said Patrick Kirby, director of the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at West Virginia University. “But this year, we’re reaching out to our constituents in West Virginia and surrounding states in search of new topics that will reflect the issues facing project investors, government officials, economic developers, and technical professionals from across the state.”

Presentation proposal forms can be downloaded at www.wvbrownfields.org and submitted to the director of the Brownfields Assistance Center at Marshall University, George Carico, at carico@marshall.edu. The deadline for presentation proposals is March 3. Interested entities can submit up to two presentation proposals.

For more information on the West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Centers and the 2014 West Virginia Brownfields Conference, visit www.wvbrownfields.org.

The Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center is a program of the West Virginia Water Research Institute at the National Research Center for Coal and Energy at WVU and serves the northern 33 counties in West Virginia. The West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at Marshall University, located in Huntington, is housed within the Center for Environmental, Geotechnical, and Applied Sciences and serves the southern 22 counties in West Virginia.

-WVU-

gw/2/10/14

CONTACT: Glenn Waldron, West Virginia Water Research Institute
(304) 293-7085, Glenn.Waldron@mail.wvu.edu

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