Re: [CPEO-BIF] Santa Clarita article and Brownfield policy

["Schnapf, Lawrence" <Lawrence.Schnapf@srz.com>]

Yes, NJ does have the Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA) which applies
to certain industrial establishments based on NAICS numbers but there
some gapping holes in its coverage such as gas station sites. Of course,
the infamous Kiddie Kollege site was an ISRA site but the owner did not
comply and the buyer did insufficient due diligence so the contamination
was not remediated before the school was opened! 

A few other states have less rigorous laws such as the CT Transfer
Act.I've also seen sites in CT where parties structured deals to avoid
triggering the law's requirements. A federal environmental WARN or ISRA
law could help minimize the number of brownfield sites created in the
future. Another approach might be to administratively tighten RCRA
closure obligations to include generator sites since many of the smaller
brownfield sites likely qualified as small quantity or
conditionally-exempt generators. I have ideas how this might be
accomplished but don't want to clog up the listserve.....

Larry  

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Strauss [mailto:petestrauss1@comcast.net] 
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 1:52 PM
To: Schnapf, Lawrence
Cc: lsiegel@cpeo.org; Brownfields Internet Forum
Subject: Re: [CPEO-BIF] Santa Clarita article and Brownfield policy

Larry:

Doesn't NJ have a law requiring that sites be cleaned up before they  
are abandoned or transferred?  I recall seeing it years back.  It may  
have applied to only industrial users of a certain size.

Peter
On May 18, 2009, at 9:15 AM, Schnapf, Lawrence wrote:

> How is it that in the 21st century property owners and operators are
> still allowed to abandon property without first having to remediate  
> the
> sites?
>
> When the brownfield movement arose in the mid-1990s, the justification
> for those programs was that liability concerns and uncertainty over
> cleanup costs had contributed to the creation of brownfields.  
> However, I
> believe that justification was premised more on lore and unexamined
> assumptions. The real reason for the creation of brownfields was  
> because
> property owners were allowed to abandon property without being  
> required
> to remediate the sites.
>
> There seems to have been almost a mythological belief that has been
> built up over the past decade that it is the costs to remediate
> brownfield sites that is impeding redevelopment. However, if the
> empirical information coming from the New York BCP is representative  
> of
> the rest of the country, the cleanup costs for brownfield sites are  
> only
> 1%-5% of the potential redevelopment value-with most of the sites
> bundled around 1%. These costs hardly represent "material" liability  
> or
> cost (which is the term routinely used in transactions) and would seem
> to be insufficient to  "complicate" redevelopment. In many cases, the
> remediation costs are simply a "delta" over the construction costs.
>
> New York now requires the projected development costs to be calculated
> and disclosed by applicants seeking to enroll in the BCP. I would
> suggest that this might be useful for all states and even the  
> government
> so that they can focus these precious resources on sites or projects
> where the remedial costs truly material.
>
> It also seems to me that to prevent future creation of brownfields,  
> what
> we really need are tougher laws requiring owners/operators to
> investigate,disclose and remediate contamination before they may  
> legally
> close down operations. Companies are required to provide employees  
> with
> 60 days advance notice before they may close a plant under federal and
> state WARN acts. Maybe we need environmental WARN acts as well.
>
> Larry
>
> P.S. Of course, if someone is aware of empirical data showing that
> brownfield remediation costs are material to redevelopment of those
> sites, I'd appreciate if you would point me to those studies.
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: brownfields-bounces@lists.cpeo.org
> [mailto:brownfields-bounces@lists.cpeo.org] On Behalf Of Lenny Siegel
> Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 11:51 AM
> To: Brownfields Internet Forum
> Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Park at Special Devices site, Santa Clarita,
> California
>
> Caution urged with park site
> Contaminated property will require special signage, critic says
>
> By Brian Charles
> Santa Clarita Signal (CA)
> May 17, 2009
>
> A city plan to buy a piece of contaminated land near Placerita  
> Canyon is
>
> drawing criticism. It's also drawing comparisons to another infamous
> toxic-waste site.
>
> The city of Santa Clarita plans to spend $2.5 million to buy the
> 140-acre Special Devices site near Placerita Canyon, said Rick Gould,
> city of Santa Clarita park director. The site was the home to Special
> Devices Inc. The company manufactured explosives for the air bags used
> in automotive safety systems, and explosive release charges for the
> doors on the Mercury space capsules, Gould said.
>
> When Special Devices abandoned the site in 1999, the company left  
> behind
>
> a site with contaminated soil, said Ken Paine, project manager for the
> California Department of Toxic Substance Control.
>
> ...
>
> According to the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act study  
> published
>
> in December, the contamination in the soil was enough to prohibit
> home-building, but not enough to stop the city from turning the site
> into open space.
>
> ...
>
> For the entire article, see
> http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/13336/
>
> -- 
>
>
> Lenny Siegel
> Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
> a project of the Pacific Studies Center
> 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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