2014 CPEO Brownfields List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2014 14:16:03 -0700 (PDT)
Reply: cpeo-brownfields
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] New Life for Closed Gas Stations Conference & Exhibition Kicks Off in Two Days (June 4, 2014)
 
From: Michael Goldstein <MGoldstein@Goldsteinenvlaw.com>
Date: June 2, 2014 9:46:24 AM PDT

One last email regarding this important conference in the two days before the first session convenes to give you a very detailed understanding of the scope of the program and how it may be of benefit.

The program is designed to tell a detailed but very practical story about how to best and most cost-efficiently repurpose closed gas stations (almost always contaminated) and incorporate them into any one of several dozen different end-uses or combinations of end- uses. We do this by first looking at the architecture and mechanics of gas stations; that is, how they’re put together and designed to function safely and efficiently (1 hr). We then pivot and begin to tell the tale of what happens when gas stations break down; that is, common causes of discharge and sources of contamination (1 hr) and what happens in the subsurface when contamination is released (1 hr). We then explore cost-effective strategies for pre-acquisition due diligence of closed gas station; that is, where would you want to look to find areas of contamination and what methodologies would you use and why (1 hr).

We’ll next spend some time carefully evaluating gas station cleanup strategies and costs, with an emphasis on trying to understand how to tailor a technical cleanup remedy to the anticipated reuse in order to save money (45 minutes). We’ll also have a lengthy discussion on how cleanup costs and technologies can be seamlessly folded into construction, so seamlessly that in many cases it may be impossible to distinguish between the construction activity and the cleanup strategy, which could provide for dramatic cost savings (1 hr). To supplement that discussion, the next session will focus entirely on budgeting for cleanup costs and incremental construction costs caused by contamination (1 hr).

In the final session on the first day, US EPA officials from Washington D.C. and several regional offices across the country will discuss the federal regulatory and economic incentive programs that have been developed and successfully implemented over the past 15 years to limit cost and manage legal liability at closed gas station reuse projects (45 minutes). To properly frame this discussion, earlier in the day, Carolyn Hoskinson, the US EPA Director of the Office of Underground Storage Tanks, will present the Keynote.

The second day will kick off with an address from one of US EPA’s chief economic policy analysts and advisors, who will provide a broad overview of economic development market conditions across the country as well as dozens of case studies where private and public sectors partners have pulled from various capital sources, including public financing sources, to render otherwise difficult projects feasible (45 minutes). The next session will involve more insight and guidance from the US EPA Petroleum Brownfields program on regulatory assistance and agency partnering opportunities (1 hr). From that point forward, we’ll start to get into the various elements of planning, design and reuse.

We’ll have a primer on preventing vapor intrusion at redeveloped gas station sites (45 minutes), an important discussion on proper stormwater management issues (30 minutes), and insight from the private sector and from a state regulatory official on the use of deed restrictions and engineering controls to allow for residual contamination to remain in place, thus lowering cleanup and construction costs (45 minutes).

At this point, we pivot again and begin to look at specific types of closed gas station reuse projects. In the first reuse session, we’ll have a focus on retail, commercial, and housing (50 minutes), in the second a focus on health care (40 minutes), in the third a focus on community parks and gardens, and in the fourth a focus on alternate energy, like CNG, solar, electric, and biodiesel (45 minutes). Finally, we’ll wrap up the day with important roundtable discussions that explore gas station redevelopment opportunities from the developers’ perspective (45 minutes) and then from the lenders’ (1 hr).

The Keynote presentation for the second day will be given by Elizabeth Schilling with Smart Growth America. Elizabeth is one of the principal authors of “From Vacancy to Vibrancy: A Guide to Redeveloping UST Sites through Area-wide Planning.” Another featured speaker on this second day is Caley Johnson, with the US Dept. of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab, the principal author of “Guide for Identifying and Converting High-Potential Petroleum Brownfield Sites to Alternative Fuel Stations.”

The third and final day of the program provides an emphasis on liability identification, analysis, and management. The program kicks off with an important policy address from the Director of Waste Management for the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection, who is intending to discuss the ongoing and future initiatives of the Governor Scott administration to incentivize and reward the investment of private capital in cleanup, redevelopment, and reuse of closed gas station sites (30 minutes). The next presentation will be a facilitated dialogue between the largest owner of independent gas stations in New York City and his counsel to illuminate the many interconnected planning, design, engineering, liability, schedule, and budget issues they’ve had to overcome as the company converts its portfolio of gas stations sites into high- end retail, commercial, and mixed use projects (45 minutes). We’ll then work through a series of environmental legal presentations from some of the top private sector and state regulatory agency lawyers in the country (45 min., 30 min., and 45 minutes), with a specific emphasis on the actions to take and to avoid in the context of redeveloping contaminated gas station sites specifically and contaminated construction sites generally.

The program will conclude its discussion on legal liability management with two in-depth presentation on environmental insurance. We’ll first have a representative from AIG provide a general survey of the environmental insurance products that are available for reuse of closed gas station sites and then offer personal insight into the state of the environmental insurance marketplace (45 minutes). In the second session, one of the most effective brokers we’ve ever worked with will walk the conference through the nuts and bolts of negotiating coverages, drafting endorsements, and limiting premiums (45 minutes).

In addition to the 9 US EPA representatives either attending or speaking, we’ll have over a dozen environmental agency representatives from the following states:

·         Alabama
·         Connecticut
·         Florida
·         Indiana
·         Minnesota
·         Rhode Island

A copy of the educational program is attached above, and the conference agenda can be accessed by clicking here: https:// www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/qkpccv. To register, click here: www.closedgasstationconference.com.

While we believe the educational offerings alone create tremendous value, we are equally excited about the networking, bridge- building, and business generation opportunities that will exist throughout the conference as a result of the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and constituencies reflected by those who have registered to date.

We hope to see you in Orlando this week. However, if you can’t make it and would be interested in the materials, please let us know.

Best regards,
Michael

Michael R. Goldstein, Esq.
The Goldstein Environmental Law Firm, P.A.
One SE Third Avenue, Suite 2120
Miami, FL 33131
Direct Telephone: (305) 777-1682
Cell Phone: (305) 962-7669
Facsimile: (305) 777-1681
Email: mgoldstein@goldsteinenvlaw.com



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