[CPEO-BIF] More nuggets from OIG

There were three interesting comments from OSWER that I thought I would share:

 

1. OSWER requested that OIG remove references in the report to disclosure requirements because âthere is nothing in the AI rule that requires disclosure of environmental conditions of a property.â

                        OIG responded that the report contained one reference to âdiscloseâ in the report by asking âAre Brownfields grantees meeting EPAâs AAI Rule requirements to investigate and disclose environmental conditions and are purchasers/owners maintaining continuing obligations at brownfield properties?â OIG also said that the requirement for EPs to document an opinion on environmental conditions can be a disclosure of environmental conditions where they exist.

 

2.  OSWER also asked to remove references to âcontinuing obligationsâ because this phrase referred to activities required to maintain liability protection after the owner takes title and would not be addressed in an AAI.  OIG responded                         âWhen the OIG announced its work in this area, we had plans to look at how continuing obligations requirements were being met. However, the OIG stated in its draft report to OSWER, âDue to priority issues identified during the course of our review, we did not complete an evaluation of continuing obligations at brownfield properties. Therefore, those issues are not addressed in this report.â This statement remains in this final report. We also added clarifying references to continuing obligations in the final report to avoid potential confusion.â  3. OSWER also requested that OIG clarify that data gaps must only be addressed in AAI reports when the lack of information precludes the EP from reaching necessary conclusions regarding conditions indicative of releases or threatened releases. OIG responded that: " its finding on data gaps was based on EPA Brownfields Program communications in 2007 and 2009 training information that âno discussion of data gapsâ is a âcommon problemâ(2009) and âdeficiencyâ(2007) in AAI reports. The 2009 training information also provided that under the final rule, âdocumentation of data gaps is no longer discretionary.â OIG then said that it its opinion, the Brownfields Program has communicated an expectation that the data gaps requirement includes stating that there were no data gaps when that is the case..

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-----Original Message-----
From: larry@schnapflaw.com [mailto:larry@schnapflaw.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 06:23 PM
To: brownfields@lists.cpeo.org
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] Do we need a National Brownfield Prevention Act?

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According to Plant Closing News (PCS), over 5,000 plants have closed in the US since 2003 From the PCS announcements, it appears  that most of the companies closing plants remain viable and are simply either consolidating operations elsewhere in the US or exporting jobs to other countries. In either event, viable parties appear to remain for most of the closed plants.     why is it that we allow companies to close plants, thereby leaving towns with brownfields that then have to be cleaned up using taxpayer money either directly or thru incentives. States like NJ and CT have laws requiring firms that close plants to remediate those facilities. Shouldnt we have something like this on the national level to prevent the creation of new brownfields?   We have a WARN Act where employers with over 100 employees have to give their workers with advance notice of a plant closing. At the very least, we should have an Environmental WARN act so that states or the EPA can be advised before a plant is closed and ensure that the plant owner takes appropriate measures before it leaves town.    Larry Schnapf Law Offices  55 East 87th Street, Ste. 8B New York, NY 10128 212-756-2205 (p)  646-468-8483 (c) Larry@SchnapfLaw.com http://www.SchnapfLaw.com/ Named to Chambers USA 2009-10 Client Guide of Americaâs Leading Lawyers for Business. AVÂ Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell Listed in 2010 New York Super Lawyers-Metro Edition