[CPEO-BIF] STUDY FINDS OHIO’S “brownfield” CLEAN-UP PR

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

To download the entire report go to:
http://www.greenlink.org/brownfields/findings/index.html





For Release: 10:30 a.m. ET, January 22, 2001

Contact: Bruce Cornett, Green Environmental Coalition, 937-767-5000 or
937-767-2109; bcornett@servlet.com

Jack Shaner, Ohio Environmental Council, 614-487-7506 or cell-614-296-3710;
jack@theoec.org 

STUDY FINDS OHIO’S “brownfield” CLEAN-UP PROGRAM A FAILURE, CALLS FOR REFORMS

Report released as Gov. Taft and Legislature plan how to spend $200 million in
State Issue 1 funds for clean-up, redevelopment of contaminated old industrial
sites
(Columbus, Ohio)--Ohio’s voluntary brownfield clean-up program has allowed site
owners to cover up, rather than clean up, lead and other toxic chemicals with
pavement, fencing, and landscaping. It has seen $5.8 million in state loans,
grants, and tax incentives invested in sites that remain contaminated. After
seven years of operation, only 111 sites have entered the program. Meanwhile,
more than 1,800 sites with known or suspected contamination continue to blight
Ohio’s landscape. 

These are among the findings of the first-ever, file-by-file review of the
state’s controversial Voluntary Action Program, or “VAP,” released today by a
coalition of environmental organizations and citizens who live near land laced
with toxic chemicals.

“It’s time to fix the VAP,” declared Bruce Cornett, director of the Green
Environmental Coalition, which authored the report. 

The study was released just two days before Ohio Gov. Bob Taft’s annual state
of the state address at which he is expected to outline plans for spending $200
million on a new brownfield clean-up and redevelopment program authorized by
Ohio voters last November.

The report also found:

·       The VAP does not meet U.S. EPA minimum brownfields redevelopment
criteria for public information and involvement nor for state agency oversight
and enforcement. 
·       Many VAP projects rely upon bio-degradation, fencing, and landscaping
and other mitigation techniques rather than actual clean-up efforts. 
·       Economic development is the top qualifying criteria, rather than public
health and environmental threats. 
·       Off-site migration of contamination to adjacent properties is rarely
investigated. 
·       Investigation errors occurred in nearly half of the program’s 57
completed projects. 
·       Limited funding has hamstrung the Ohio EPA’s ability to oversee the
VAP.


“Some people suggest we should throw this program out, along with Ohio EPA,”
said Cornett. “We don't share that view. We believe this program can be rescued
and reformed so that it protects our health, our land and water, and our
private property rights while still affording property owners an opportunity to
voluntarily clean up and redevelop their property.”

The report recommends that state officials take the following actions to reform
the VAP:
·       Eliminate secrecy provisions that deny the public access to information
about clean up projects. 
·       Require the Ohio EPA to directly oversee cleanup projects, which will
help assure official recognition of the VAP by the federal government. 
·       Require training and testing for the private “certified professionals”
that consult with site owners and developers on VAP clean-up projects. 
·       Ensure that financial incentives are directed to those projects that
need it most by making environmental justice for low-income and minority
neighborhoods a top priority. 
·       Restrict off-site contamination and take enforcement action against
violations. 
·       Increase staffing and other oversight resources at the Ohio EPA. 

For Suzanne Patterson, the state’s failed program hits close to home. She lives
in Yellow 

Springs, next door to a contaminated site owned by Vernay Laboratories where
toxic solvents were once dumped on the ground. The site is enrolled in the VAP.
Testing has confirmed that cancer-causing chemicals from the site have migrated
through groundwater beneath her property.

“The government is not protecting my property,” said Patterson. “This is my
land and I want it to be restored to the same condition to which I bought it 15
years ago. The VAP is not helping. Instead, it’s a nightmare.”

The VAP has remained controversial since it was established by the state
legislature in 1994. Under it, owners of contaminated sites are encouraged to
voluntarily enroll in the program in exchange for free technical assistance
from the state and the enticement of a covenant from the state not to sue
participants who comply with program requirements. A random audit of completed
projects by the state EPA is supposed to ensure compliance.

But, as the report documents, the federal government has never approved Ohio’s
program, leaving participants vulnerable to federal liability. Other states
with voluntary cleanup programs enjoy successful clean-up programs. New Jersey
has cleaned up thousands of sites; Minnesota has more than 1,000 participants
in its program.

“The VAP is a failed investment,” said Jack Shaner of the Ohio Environmental
Council. “Before Ohio infuses $200 million into a new clean-up program, it
should heed the failures of its current program. That’s just smart business.”

30--
The Green Environmental Coalition is a non-profit organization dedicated to
ensuring public participation in legislative actions affecting the environment.
The GEC’s 150-page report includes an additional CD ROM containing thousands of
pages scanned from VAP archives and all Ohio EPA databases related to the VAP.
The report is available at www.greenlink.org [.]

The Ohio Environmental Council is a non-profit network of more than 100
environmental and conservation organizations that advocates for clean air,
clean water, and protection of the land.

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