[CPEO-BIF] New York Brownfield Opportunity Areas

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

New York's chance to reclaim brownfields

Commentary by JODY KASS and MATHY STANISLAUS
Albany Times Union
June 12, 2006

As the 2006 legislative session heads toward adjournment, we are 
reminded of a similar time, three years ago, when lawmakers were 
frantically writing the last parts of a new state law directing the 
cleanup of contaminated lands.

The 2003 Brownfield Cleanup Law is packed with new ideas -- and a 
serious financial commitment to revitalizing communities through 
brownfields reclamation. The law is designed to get New York going again 
on the important work of making polluted lands safe for our families, 
protecting our water and rebuilding older urban neighborhoods, while 
protecting outlying greenfields.

The most innovative piece of the law is the Brownfield Opportunity Area 
program, a unique approach to reclaiming properties, mainly former 
industrial lands that are doubly unattractive because they are likely to 
be contaminated with hazardous waste. The BOA program is a useful tool 
for people to come together to create a new vision for their 
neighborhoods, especially those felt to be abandoned, and even dangerous.

...

For the entire column, see
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=490766&category=OPINION&newsdate=6/12/2006
--


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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