DOT 129-10
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Contact: Bill Mosley
Telephone: 202-366-4570
Partnership to Lead Effort to Encourage Sustainable Locations for Future Government Facilities
The U.S. Department of Transportation, as a member of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, has been asked by the White House Council of Environmental Quality to lead a public outreach and education campaign to encourage federal agencies to choose sustainable locations for future facilities.
In addition, they have been asked to issue formal guidance and to coordinate with the General Services Administration in reflecting that guidance in the Federal Management Regulations.
These are among a series of actions to be completed by a DOT-led interagency working group that developed recommendations for Sustainable Locations for Federal Facilities under President Obama’s Executive Order 13514 on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance.
Siting buildings in sustainable locations will help insure that workers and the visiting public have convenient, safe transportation options to reach federal facilities, which in turn will help to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that result from worker and visitor commuting and will better integrate the federal presence into the surrounding community. Additionally, this improved access will lower transportation costs for workers and visitors and can provide communities with employment centers that can help drive economic development.
Federal agencies are already required to meet sustainable building standards for all new construction and major renovations. Applying the principles developed by the Partnership will help to assure that sustainable federal buildings are built in sustainable locations.
“This effort reflects the Obama Administration’s commitment to promoting livable communities and protecting the environment,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Our recommendations will help federal, state and local governments place future facilities in locations that reduce our impact on the environment and provide employees and citizens with improved access to government buildings.”
The Partnership recommends 10 criteria for the location of new federal facilities:
• Promote efficient travel and ensure access to transit to reduce the need for employees and the public to drive to the facility.
• Locate in existing central business districts and rural town centers.
• Locate near or be accessible to affordable housing.
• Ensure the ability to walk or bike to the facility.
• Use existing buildings, infrastructure and other resources.
• Foster the development of previously developed, abandoned or underused locations known as greyfields or brownfields.
• Encourage adaptive reuse of historic buildings and districts.
• Preserve the natural environment.
• Achieve agency goals for reducing emissions as set out in their Sustainable Strategic Performance Plans.
• Discuss location alternatives with local and regional planning officials and consider their recommendations.
Spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, these recommendations were prepared in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the General Services Administration and the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency are members of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. The Partnership helps American families in all communities –- rural, suburban and urban – gain better access to affordable housing, more transportation options and lower transportation costs.
The report, “Recommendations on Sustainable Siting for Federal Facilities,” is available on the Internet at http://www.dot.gov/livability/docs/siting_recs.pdf