Home Depot Completes Hawaii Brownfields Cleanup

["cpeo@cpeo.org" <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

HOME DEPOT COMPLETES HAWAII BROWNFIELDS CLEANUP

HONOLULU, Hawaii, September 29, 1999 (ENS) - The Hawaii Department of
Health has approved the first voluntary environmental clean up project
completed under the state’s new Voluntary Response Program. The program,
created by Governor Ben Cayetano in July 1997, is designed to encourage
investment in contaminated properties. It allows prospective property
owners to avoid liability for environmental problems they have not caused
by voluntarily cleaning up the sites they wish to redevelop. Redevelopment
of old industrial sites, known as brownfields, benefits the environment and
the local economy. Home Depot USA, Inc., applied to investigate and clean
up a site for a new store in Honolulu. After almost two years of working
with the state, the company has become the first participant to receive a
"letter of completion" approving a completed cleanup. Along with the
cleanup, Home Depot installed a multimillion dollar environmental control
system at the site. "We are confident that this system will fully protect
store employees, shoppers and the environment," says health director Dr.
Bruce Anderson. "We are pleased that The Home Depot has successfully
navigated the state’s Voluntary Response Program, enabling the company to
locate on property which they might not have been able to consider
otherwise. We hope others will see this project as an example of successful
redevelopment," Anderson says. 

For additional information about Home Depot's new Honolulu Store go to:

http://www.homedepot.com/