[CPEO-BIF] "Why Toxic 'Brownfields' Are Tough to Redevelop" in Texas

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Urban Renewal: Why Toxic 'Brownfields' Are Tough to Redevelop

BY DAVE FEHLING
State Impact Texas/NPR
June 18, 2012

For developers of housing or commercial projects in Texas, bringing  
what had been contaminated, blighted lots back to life can be full of  
challenges, both legal and economic. But sometimes it works.

"Once you own the site, you have repercussions to that and potential  
liabilities," says John Slavich, a Dallas lawyer.

Slavich has shepherded hundreds of Texas brownfield projects through  
an often daunting legal and regulatory maze. Most sites he worked on  
were ones overseen by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality  
(TCEQ). He says he tries to avoid other, sometimes more toxic sites  
under control of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

...

"Texas being Texas, I don't think there's going to be a lot of state  
aid to help these projects along," says Slavich, the Dallas attorney.

But what Texas does provide is a robust economy in comparison with  
other states, with the core areas of Dallas and Houston seeing new  
development of old lots, which experts say could increase interest in  
brownfields as potential sites for new housing or commercial buildings.


...

For the entire article, see
http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/06/18/urban-renewal-toxic- 
brownfields-tough-to-redevelop/

--

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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