Supplemental Environmental Project Application - IDEM

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Violator Name Case # Page 3 9.Conception of Project: Provide information.pertaining to when the project wasfilirst conceived by;lhe company, as well as why the SEP was proposed. If. research was conducted, or; a pilot project undertaken prior to IDEM's enforcement action, provide a description of such research or:pilot project and'state when the work was performed and why the currently proposed'SEP.was not thenImplemented. Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem (BCe2) started in 2015, but discussions between neighborhood residents and community leaders began over a decade ago. Some cleanups have been done in Ravina Park and a brownfields grant assisted in the dredging of an upstream pond which has helped biota in the creek. The Fish Studies Aquatic Survey conducted by South Bend have pointed community engaged students, faculty and staff talent to meet purpose and engage in community service projects that use environmental engineering, civil engineering, computer science engineering, ecology, sustainability, environmental science and environmental management along with biology, biotechnology, botany and education skills to address complex real world challenges as multidisciplinary experiential learning. There are practicing professionals who mentor BCe2 in the City. Specifically the BCe2 team is intentionally inclusive of the University of Notre Dame, Ivy Tech, IU South Bend, Saint Mary's, Purdue, IU, Ball State and more. BCe2 is partly funded through National Science Foundation research by Principal Investigator Jay Brockman looking at Improving Undergraduate STEM Education for women and under -represented groups. BCe2's driving interest in this project is to assist the City to right an environmental injustice; the condition of the Creek in this neighborhood is far below what one would expect to see in a middle income or affluent neighborhood. The BCe2 mentor (Gary Gilot, see section 15) approached the City with this proposal as the City was contemplating a SEP and the parties liked the concept. The proposal was taken to a Southeast Organized Area Residents (SOAR) meeting and received community support. BCe2 are now hopeful that IDEM will also like this project and approve it so that work may commence this Spring. 10. Quantify: For Pollution Prevention or Red uation7QUantify; the amount of each pollutant that is; expected. to be reduced, :beyond that required for environmental compliance. Specify the media (air, water, land) to be a€fected.: For all other. pes'of projects -Quantify the '. number of participants, programs, acres of land restored, etc. Indicate what procedures wili.be used to verify.:the amount of poliutants..'reduced (e.g., stack test, sampling, monitoring data, etc.) We believe this is not applicable to this type of clean-up and native plant vegetation. 11. Expected Environmental Benefits: Explain the expected environmental. benefits of the project and quantify the environmental benefits if possible: The expected environmental benefits will be to remove invasive plant species and reintroduce native plant species. We will also work to remove debris and unnatural items from the creek channel. By removing the chain -link fence and replacing with park guardrails, we hope to decrease the amount of illegal dumping that occurs. By utilizing our waterways as beautiful neighborhood natural environmental resources rather than areas of blight, we will be able to counteract the poorly planned, executed, or maintained built environment impacts in the project area. We hope this has a "snowball effect" in the surrounding areas and encourages further environmental justice projects.