The Internet can be a significant asset to community organizations seeking to understand environmental hazards and undertake brownfield redevelopment projects. The use of the World Wide Web and electronic mail has expanded exponentially during the second half of the 1990s; however, there remains a strong need to identify guidelines for effective practice that meet the special needs of communities with environmental challenges. One important source of experience and expertise in the deployment of online resources has been the Hazardous Substance Research Centers (HSRC), a university-based consortium sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to provide free technical outreach services to environmentally threatened communities throughout the United States. This paper describes how the five HSRC centers have disseminated technical information on the web to brownfield communities, empowered communities to use the web, and provided online environmental education to Native American communities. The paper also presents the key lessons learned by the HSRCs in this assistance program.
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