Re: [CPEO-BIF] "Brownfields widespread, confidential

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

>From Peter B. Meyer <pbmeyer@louisville.edu>


Responding to Lenny's comment about obscuring known contamination cases,
I must point out that this is commonplace. In many states, TX among
them, the decision not to list brownfields appears to have been driven
in part by threats to state agencies from owners of nearby lands who
threatened "takings" litigation for the loss of their property values
due to the identification of nearby brownfields.  In many states,
moreover, there is no requirement under any professional code of ethics
or other standard or law that requires that the engineers that conduct
an environmental site assessment divulge their findings to any state
agency. Thus, in many instances, the presence of dangerous contamination
may be known, but those who know about it may be under no legal
obligation to divulge that information -- and may, in fact, be
constrained by law or regulation from providing the public with the
information.

Peter
--

Peter B. Meyer
Professor of Urban Policy and Economics
Director, Center for Environmental Management
Director, EPA Region 4 Environmental Finance Center
University of Louisville
426 W. Bloom Street
Louisville, KY 40208
   Voice 502-852-8032   Fax 502-852-4558
Visit our web site at <http://cepm.louisville.edu>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To read CPEO's archived Brownfields messages visit
http://www.cpeo.org/lists/brownfields

If this email has been forwarded to you and you'd
like to subscribe, please send a message to
cpeo-brownfields-subscribe@igc.topica.com 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

____________________________________________________________
T O P I C A  -- Learn More. Surf Less. 
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01