QuadCityBrownFieldsPastPage

The Old Economy: How Greenfields became Brown

In looking at the past, it is sometimes very difficult to comprehend that contemporary abandoned and idle sites were once bustling and productive businesses forging an economy of success. The Quad Cities is no exception to this. As the farming implementations capital of the world, the Quad Cities depended very heavily on the agricultural industry and the military to provide its economic base. Being involved in these sectors of the economy led to heavy growth and industrialization in the area.

This industrialization introduced new chemicals and substances to both people and the environment. Many of the substances were new and people had no ideal just how toxic they were. This led to many of them exposing themselves to the chemicals and to not worrying about proper containment or disposal. It was in this way that many brownfields were created. Laws were later created that saw to it that these chemicals were properly handled, but the enforcement was difficult and so there were many cases of pollution until detection and enforcement became effective.

The factories were not the only causes of pollution; transportation also played a role. Early on when these cities were founded transportation was either done on foot, horse, or bicycle, and although slow by today’s standards they were a lot more environmentally friendly. Eventually trolleys and trains were developed and pollution due to transportation began to show up. The first areas were the lands along the train tracks where oil, coal, and other pollutants from the train had soaked into the soils. Then technology gave us the car and it too caused soils to become polluted, but this time it was not contained to the tracks, but rather all over the landscape.

The sites that were polluted, but were not posing a health threat to the neighboring areas were not realized to be that much of a problem while they were still in operation. When the economy slowed down the companies that occupied these sites left and so the plots truly became brownfields. Corporations noticed heightened competition and fewer profits. As this was happening, companies needed a way to save themselves from going under. One answer was to consolidate and make do with fewer more condensed operations in fewer locations. Soon what were booming cities saw their industries begin to leave, taking with them the jobs that were the basis of survival for thousands of people. They left behind the empty superstructures of their operations to rot and fall into disrepair, often with contaminants left along with their empty factories. With the loss of their staple industries, small businesses that had opened to service the larger companies saw their existence to be pointless and closed their doors as well, and in the case of several service stations that we observed, left their land to fall into environmental distress.

From the loss of industry, we see the formation of a phenomenon referred to as brownfields. Brownfields are the broken down trophies that we have left from the old economy, and are a constant reminder of the success that once was. Their land is many times contaminated with various things, from gasoline to machining lubricants/oils. Many have remained empty or idle for as many as 50-75 years. Sadly, with the exit of companies, the people that were once present are no longer there. So the problem that faces brownfields now is that they are located where the people aren’t.