[CPEO-BIF] New York announces draft regs

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

News from The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation 

DEC ANNOUNCES DRAFT REGULATIONS FOR BROWNFIELD AND SUPERFUND PROGRAMS 

Comment Period, Information Meetings, Hearings Scheduled 

ALBANY, NY -- (11/16/2005; 1300)(EIS) -- New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) Acting Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan
today announced that DEC has issued draft regulations to implement the
State's Superfund and Brownfield Programs. 

Information meetings will be held across the State to provide an
overview of the regulations, answer the public's questions on the draft
regulations and generate public comments. The draft regulations, related
Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement, and Technical Support
Document (TSD) for the Development of the Soil Cleanup Objectives will
be available for public comment until March 27, 2006. 

"DEC has drafted the regulation in response to the historic legislation
adopted by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Pataki in
October 2003. The law refinanced and reformed the State Superfund and
Brownfield Programs, greatly accelerating the redevelopment of
contaminated sites across the State," Commissioner Sheehan said. "DEC
understands that these regulations will affect communities across the
State and has worked to ensure that everyone who would like to get
involved in the public review process is able and encouraged to do so,
scheduling seven public information meetings and three public hearings
across the State." 

The draft regulations reflect statutory revisions to the Inactive
Hazardous Waste Disposal Site Remedial Program (Superfund Program) and
the Environmental Restoration Program (ERP) and incorporate new
provisions to implement the new Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP). These
changes are necessary to fully implement the comprehensive legislation
enacted in 2003 to refinance and reform the State's Brownfield and
Superfund programs. DEC has been administering and implementing the new
and amended programs since the legislation's passage under guidance
documents. 

The complete text of the draft regulation, the Draft Generic
Environmental Impact Statement for the regulation, the TSD, as well as
all studies and documents referenced by the TSD, may be viewed at DEC
Central Office in Albany and each DEC regional office. Information on
the regulations can also be accessed on the DEC's website at
www.dec.state.ny.us/website/der. 

Under the Brownfield Cleanup Program, DEC in consultation with the
Department of Health (DOH), is required to promulgate regulations to
create a multi-track approach for the remediation of contamination at
brownfields. DEC is also required to include in the regulations soil
cleanup objectives, which are contaminant-specific cleanup objectives
for soil based on a site's current, intended, or reasonably anticipated
future use. Teams of experts from DEC and DOH were established to
develop the soil cleanup standards and use-based tables for the BCP that
are included in the draft regulations. Separate sets of soil cleanup
objectives were developed in consideration of public health,
groundwater, and ecological resources. A proposed process for developing
soil cleanup objectives was described in summary documents that were
posted on the DEC web site and provided to the public at three public
meetings in spring 2004. Public input from that process was considered
in the development of the soil cleanup objectives. 

In response to requests from the public and interested stakeholders,
DEC, in cooperation with DOH, will conduct public information meetings
to present the draft regulations and answer questions from the public.
These meetings are intended to ensure that the public is afforded the
opportunity to discuss the technical material contained in the
regulations with DEC and DOH experts. Each of the information meetings
will begin at 10 a.m. The locations and dates of these meetings are as
follows: 

-- Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - Radisson Hotel, Mohawk Room, 200 Genesee
Street, Utica, NY; 

-- Wednesday, November 30, 2005 Syracuse Genesee Grande Hotel, 1060 East
Genesee St., Syracuse, NY; 

-- Thursday, December 1, 2005 - Adams Mark Hotel, 120 Church Street,
Buffalo, NY; 

-- Monday, December 5, 2005 - The George Gustav Heye Center Auditorium,
U.S. Customs House, One Bowling Green, New York, NY; 

-- Tuesday, December 6, 2005 - SUNY Farmingdale, Roosevelt Hall, Little
Theater, 2315 Route 110 (Broadhollow Road), Farmingdale, NY; 

-- Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - Yonkers Public Library, River Front
Library Auditorium, 1 Larkin Center, Yonkers, NY; and 

-- Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Public Assembly
Room 129A&B, Albany, NY. 

DEC also encourages the public to attend any of the following public
hearings to submit oral and/or written statements. Each hearing will
begin at 1:00 pm. Parties who wish to submit comments must register upon
arrival and will be called upon in the order registered: 

-- Monday, March 6, 2006 CUNY Graduate Center Recital Hall, 365 Fifth
Avenue, New York, NY; 

-- Thursday, March 9, 2006 Monroe County Community College, R. Thomas
Flynn -Campus Center, Building 3, 1000 West Henrietta Road, Rochester,
NY; and 

-- Wednesday, March 15, 2006 NYSDEC, Room 129, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY. 

The public is also invited to submit written comments until the close of
business on March 27, 2006. Written comments should be mailed to: Robert
W. Schick, P.E., NYSDEC, Division of Environmental Remediation, 625
Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-7014, or they may be emailed to
derweb@gw.dec.state.ny.us. 

The Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Program or State Superfund Program
is the State's program for identifying, investigating and cleaning up
sites where consequential amounts of hazardous waste may exist. These
sites go through a process of investigation, evaluation, cleanup and
monitoring. Once the presence of hazardous waste is confirmed at a site,
the site is added to the State's official list of Superfund sites. When
the parties responsible for the contamination are known, the responsible
parties are required to pay for and perform the investigation and
evaluation of cleanup options. At sites where responsible parties cannot
be found or are unable or unwilling to fund an investigation, the State
pays for the investigation using money from the Superfund Program. The
State then works to recover costs from a responsible party after the
investigation and cleanup are complete. Since its creation, more than
484 sites have been cleaned-up under the State Superfund Program. An
additional, 501 sites are moving toward complete cleanup. 

The 1996 Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act, authorized $1.75 billion for
important environmental programs. The Bond Act included $200 million for
Environmental Restoration Program (ERP) grants to municipalities for
costs associated with the investigation and cleanup of brownfields in
their community. To date, more than $73.9 million in Bond Act funding
has been committed for 183 investigation and cleanup projects at
brownfield sites throughout New York State. 

The 2003 Brownfield and Superfund legislation created the new BCP. The
goal of the BCP is to enhance private-sector cleanups of brownfields and
to reduce development pressure on open spaces. Under the BCP, cleanups
continue to fully protect public health and the environment based on
appropriate cleanup plans and objectives overseen by DEC. When the site
has been successfully remediated, the Applicant receives a Certificate
of Completion. The Certificate triggers liability protections provided
by statute and allows parties to apply for tax credits, helping to
offset the cost associated with brownfield redevelopment. Since the
program's creation in 2003, 169 sites have been approved under the new
BCP. 

For more information on the State's environmental remediation programs,
go to DEC's website at http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/der/. 

-30- 

For the original press release, go to
http://www.eisinc.com/release/storiesh/NYSDEC.627.html 

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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