Paul Copleman is spokesman for Community Energy, Inc. (CEI), which not only markets renewable energy credits from alternative energy facilities

An EPA First O wing to its size and its long industrial heritage, Pennsylvania is one of the nation's leading environmental remediation and brownfield redevelopment testing grounds. In keeping with that tradition, the regulators are getting in on their own act.    In February 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Philadelphia offices became the first EPA facility in the nation to qualify for membership in the EPA's own Performance Track program, which recognizes superior environmental performance and abiding commitment to improvement. One of 30 Mid- Atlantic Performance Track members, the EPA offices in Philadelphia by September 2008 will reduce their computer electricity usage by 65 percent, recycle 100 percent of their electronic and lighting waste, increase overall recycling rate in the building by 60 percent and reduce paper use in printing and copying by 40 percent.    EPA says any facility can do the same. What's in it for you? "In some cases, EPA and states have reduced routine reporting or given some flexibility to program members in how they meet regulatory requirements," says the program's most recent progress report. As of March 2005, there were 371 Performance Track member facilities in 46 states and Puerto Rico, representing nearly every manufacturing sector. Twenty states have enacted similar performance- based environmental leadership programs. — Adam Bruns

in partnership with utilities, but is one of the few such marketers to also take an active role in developing commercial- scale wind power projects. He says that work will continue and be stronger now that Iberdrola, the Spanish utility giant, has acquired Community Energy. Coincidentally, Iberdrola recently upped its stake in Gamesa too. Iberdrola plans on developing as much as 10,000 megawatts from renewable sources by the end of 2011.
   "They're very excited about the U.S. market, and have aggressive plans," says Copleman. Meanwhile, Community Energy continues working projects from the Mid- Atlantic to the Great Plains.
   Iberdrola President Ignacio Galán said in May, "This transaction combines Iberdrola's international experience in wind energy ownership and operation with CEI's market leadership and 2,000 megawatt pipeline of operating and development projects in the U.S., giving Iberdrola a platform to enter the U.S. wind market quickly and at scale."
   Brent Alderfer, CEI president, confirmed the unique value of the merger in the U.S. market: "This is the perfect marriage. It combines the innovation and U.S. market leadership of CEI with the strength and capital of the world's leading wind energy company. Iberdrola – with some 3,600 megawatts of wind energy in commercial operation, a 500- person team dedicated to renewable energy and an ability to source equipment internationally – is uniquely poised to accelerate CEI's delivery of wind energy generation to its utility partners and customers."
   While Community Energy hopes to have other Gamesa turbines operational on its developments, there are none beyond Bear Creek yet. But the potential is there in an industry that often sources its wind mill components from far and wide: Copleman cites one wind development in Atlantic City, N.J., that got its blades from Texas, its tower pieces from Canada and its nacelles from the south.
   Copleman says the literal recycling of land is evident: At the Somerset project, "When you're standing at the wind mills, you can see some of the area that was reclaimed," he says of coal territory. He says each wind project is different, but "the idea is to enter into an agreement where you are leasing the land from the property owners. Ideally, as a developer, you're looking to be able to lease the land for at least 20 years – the expected life of the first set of turbines." But first come the various stages of assessment that include wind analysis, wildlife impact and community impact.
   "Pennsylvania in general has been a welcome home to the wind power industry," says Copleman. "As the developer, we were pleased as to how we worked with the community on Bear Creek. There is a certain level of pride now that they're up and running."
   Copleman echoes others in the corporate community in praising Pennsylvania Secretary of Environmental Protection Kathleen A. McGinty, whose resumé includes being named a decade ago as a "Global Leader for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum in Davos. By all evidence, tomorrow has arrived.
   "Secretary McGinty has helped in a number of ways to foster an environment that is attracting developers," says Copleman. "She is working with all the stakeholders in this process to create a smooth- functioning system that enables everyone to thrive and be happy with the end result. The DEP and the governor's office have rightly focused their energies on how this turns into economic development for the state. Gamesa certainly is a wonderful example of that."
   Community Energy can be rightly proud of its own roles in the virtuous cycle. As a marketer, Community Energy along with the PECO WIND green power program were recently honored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Center for Resource Solutions at the 10th National Green Power Marketing Conference. As a developer, the company is equally proactive in making projects happen.
   "We are the world's largest wind energy operator, and we're turning dollars into steel and cement that's going into the ground," Copleman says.
   The evidence is on the ground back in Bucks County, where Rick Leighton, vice president, corporate services for NAI Global, says the riverport and unit- train capabilities of Keystone Industrial Port Complex have really been a boon to Gamesa, among others.
   "When they first came to the site, Gamesa brought in 12 full structures from Europe, including the blades, the nacelles and four sections for the towers," says Leighton. "It was quite interesting watching them come off the vessel and be moved onto their site. Gamesa is now training people on the site and actually producing product. They're rehabbing buildings and employing people. When they build these towers, they're using slab steel that's brought in via vessel into the port, stacked up and then fabricated. The slabs are very impressive – the magnitude of these things is hard for most people to comprehend. Obviously, one of their reasons for being there is the ability to bring materials in via the port, and the ability to move via rail."
   That includes the possibility of export, as world currency exchange rates continue to favor U.S. sites.
   Like Gamesa and the state, KIPC has no qualms about multiiple alternatives either. Leighton says one of the ways biofuel facilities can prove more economical is by bringing in unit trains of 75 to 100 cars full of corn, never disconnecting them, and pulling out with empties.
   "There is quite a bit of looking from both domestic and international clients interested in non- containerized materials to the port and then out by rail," he says. "That's big in this area where those kinds of properties don't generally exist."
   Leighton too has nothing but praise for the aggressive state support for alternative energy opportunities, down to and including guiding companies to sites. And he has reason to know.
   "I was the real estate manager at Air Products and Chemicals, and I can tell you the state wasn't nearly as cooperative five to 10 years ago," he says, agreeing that it's rare to get this kind of collaboration between state economic development and environmental protection agencies. He attributes it to the combined powers of innovative brownfields legislation, Sec. McGinty's personality and Gov. Rendell's influence. "We've never had a better cooperative effort," he says.
   The state's Brownfields Action Team through early 2006 had assisted 33 projects in 20 counties to redevelop more than 4,500 acres (1,821 hectares) of brownfields, creating and retaining as many as 35,000 jobs. Additionally, under Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program, the state has cleaned up 2,194 contaminated and abandoned industrial sites, creating or retaining as many as 76,000 jobs since 1995, with 40 percent of that activity taking place in just the three years since the Rendell administration came into office in 2003.
   "When I was before the Senate in 2003 for confirmation as secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, I testified then that my top priority was economic growth," said Sec. McGinty in an April speech to the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, noting the department's efforts with industrial reuse and recycling of materials, quicker permitting and simplified reporting. "Some didn't understand how the environmental department could have that priority. I stressed that environmental challenges really are economic opportunities in disguise, and I've run the department in accord with that vision."