2007 CPEO Brownfields List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>
Date: 25 Sep 2007 18:29:25 -0000
Reply: cpeo-brownfields
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Activists urge stronger New York brownfields cleanup rules
 
Center for Health, Environment and Justice
Citizens' Environmental Coalition
Environmental Advocates of New York
Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water
New York Public Interest Research Group
Sierra Club - Atlantic Chapter
United Neighbors Concerned About GE/Dewey Loeffel Landfill (UNCAGED)

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Tuesday,September 25, 2007
For More Information Contact:

Anne Rabe, CHEJ, 518-732-4538
Erica Ringewald, EA, 518-210-9903
Laura Haight, NYPIRG, 518-436-0876 x258
Joe Gardella, Sierra Club, 716-863-4672

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CALL ON NYS DEC COMMISSIONER TO STRENGTHEN BROWNFIELD CLEANUP RULES AND SAFEGUARD NEW YORKERS' HEALTH

(Albany) Environmental groups charged today that the state's new brownfield cleanup regulations are not protective enough and will jeopardize the health of innumerable New Yorkers, and called on Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis to strengthen them.

In a report they released today, Cleaning Up: Fixing New York's Broken Brownfield Cleanup Program, the groups charged that weak soil cleanup standards and other flaws in the Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) will allow "cleaned" sites to pose toxic threats to children and the environment. They also found that New York's cleanup standards for many toxic chemicals commonly found at contaminated sites are weaker than those in other states.

The groups released the report on the same day that the New York State Senate and Assembly Environmental Conservation Committees were to hold their second joint hearing on the status of the brownfield cleanup law that the state adopted in 2003.

The brownfield cleanup regulations were adopted on December 14, 2006, during the waning days of the Pataki Administration. The groups contend that the rules developed by the DEC and Department of Health do not meet the law's stringent standards for protecting human health and the environment. The regulations also exclude many sites that should be eligible for the program. Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit challenging the state's new rules in March of this year.

Among those calling to fix the brownfields cleanup rules were citizen activists from Rensselaer and Dutchess Counties who have been fighting for years to get contaminated sites cleaned up in their communities. They warned that other New Yorkers could suffer from the same types of toxic exposures that people in their communities have if the new brownfield cleanup regulations are not strengthened.

"Public funds should not be used to subsidize dirty cleanups," said Laura Haight, senior environmental associate with NYPIRG. "Governor Spitzer and DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis have the power - and the responsibility - to ensure that New York's Brownfield Cleanup Program results in sites where it is safe for people to live, work or play."

"The Department of Environmental Conservation's exclusion of sites contaminated by off-site sources cannot be reconciled with the brownfields statute," said Tim Sweeney, Regulatory Watch Program Director, Environmental Advocates of New York. "If the redevelopment and reuse of a site is complicated by the presence of contamination, regardless of the source of that contamination, the site should be eligible for the brownfields program - the statute is crystal clear."

"A new survey of other state brownfield programs showed that New York has second-rate standards for many chemicals that are not protective of children and drinking water," said Anne Rabe, campaign coordinator for the national Center for Health, Environment & Justice. "The state now has industrial cleanup standards as high as 3,900 parts per million for lead and 10,000 parts per million for cyanide. In years past, when such levels were found at Superfund sites it would have triggered the site being cleaned up. Now these are merely the levels to which the site must be 'cleaned'. How can the state justify this?"

"Health statistics point to many cancers caused by breathing invisible, undetected toxic fumes," said Debra Hall, Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water. "Now that more is known about vapor intrusion it is up to the DEC to prevent risking other communities to potential illness. It is unjust and unfair for the agency to ignore this health threat when establishing soil cleanup standards - it's not just a good idea to protect public health, it's the law."

"Every spring, people unknowingly catch and eat poisoned fish from Nassau Lake," said Kelly Travers-Main, who lives in Rensselaer County and is active with the United Neighbors Concerned About GE/Dewey Loeffel Landfill. "We have documented increased cancers and other health problems in our community. DEC has seen what happens when you don't clean up all the pollution, it spreads and creates more pollution."

"This is an excellent opportunity for the Spitzer DEC to distinguish itself from the Pataki DEC," said Steve Breyman, executive director of the Citizen's Environmental Coalition.

- 30 -



Top findings from Cleaning Up: Fixing New York's Broken Brownfield Cleanup Program:

1) Unfair eligibility requirements. The DEC has placed arbitrary limits on brownfield eligibility by excluding sites that are contaminated by an off-site source. One effect of the unauthorized exclusion of these sites is to disqualify hundreds of properties, particularly in New York City, that are contaminated because tainted fill material was used on the site. These properties, referred to as historic fill sites, are being summarily rejected from the program regardless of the level of contamination on-site.

2) Dirty cleanup standards. The DEC and Department of Health ignored many of the Brownfield Law's important public health and environmental criteria when developing soil cleanup standards for brownfield sites. As a result, many sites that are "cleaned" under this program could still pose toxic threats to children, water, indoor air in homes, and fish habitats.

3) Standards inferior to past Superfund cleanups. The DEC ignored the law's directive to consider the cleanup levels that have been achieved here in the past when developing soil cleanup standards. A review of previous Superfund cleanups shows that dozens of soil cleanup standards could have been stronger.

4) Loopholes in the Brownfield Cleanup Program perpetuate pollution. The Brownfield Law is supposed to result in sites that are safe enough for their intended future use. But the DEC's regulations allow developers to leave polluted surface soils on site, or even bring in polluted back fill and soil cover, if the surrounding area is also polluted. This will result in cleanups that do not protect public health or the environment, yet still reap the program's generous tax credits and liability releases.

5) Land use determination is inadequate and could harm future site users. The new rules do not ensure that future uses such as schools, day care centers, and residences are adequately protected. Whether a site use is determined to be "commercial" or "unrestricted" can have a significant impact on the amount of contamination that can be left on site.

6) Use-based cleanup standards should not be applied to all cleanup programs. Only the Brownfield Law allows use-based cleanup standards. The DEC has applied the same use-based cleanup standards to all three environmental remediation programs, despite the fact that both the Superfund law and the Environmental Restoration Program created under the 1996 Bond Act require "complete cleanups."

7) Other states have safer standards. A review of brownfield soil standards in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire and New Jersey found that New York's cleanup standards for highly toxic chemicals such as arsenic, lead, and vinyl chloride are in many cases significantly weaker.



--


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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