[CPEO-BIF] New Hampshire's brownfields cleanup record

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

NH’s brownfields cleanup record among the best in the country

By THOMAS S. BURACK, Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of  
Environmental Services
Nashua Telegraph (NH)
March 25, 2012

In 1987, when the Department of Environmental Services was first  
formed, there were several hundred sites in New Hampshire where soil  
and groundwater were contaminated with hazardous wastes.

The federal Superfund program had previously been established to  
address the very worst of these sites, and a handful of New Hampshire  
sites already had been listed on the Superfund National Priority List.

However, the newly established department was just beginning to  
develop programs to address the remaining sites that did not qualify  
for Superfund but nonetheless posed significant risks to our state’s  
groundwater and to public health. While many of these sites were  
owned and operated by viable businesses that undertook the necessary  
steps, many others were owned by persons who were unable to perform  
the work. Still, others were neglected or abandoned by their owners,  
often because the actual or perceived costs of site cleanup exceeded  
the property value. These sites, known as “brownfields,” often were  
located close to town centers, and their condition contributed to an  
appearance of urban blight and declining communities.

...

For the entire column, see
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/opinionperspectives/954829-263/nhs- 
brownfields-cleanup-record-among-the-best.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street, Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

_______________________________________________
Brownfields mailing list
Brownfields@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/brownfields-cpeo.org