SIGNED LAND USE/REMEDY LETTER

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

We mailed the following signed letter on the relationship of land use to
remedy selection, with sign-ons, to decision-makers at U.S. EPA and
Cal-EPA on Friday, September 26. Since CAREER/PRO does not engage in
direct legislative advocacy, it will be up to others to send copies of
the letter directly of members of Congress or state legislatures.
Furthermore, since we don't know which state agencies are addressing
these issues administratively, we could use help figuring out how to
distribute the letter to hazardous waste policy offices in other states.

Lenny

LAND USE AND REMEDY SELECTION: THE SIGNED LETTER
September 26, 1997

Dear Environmental Policy-Maker:

We are writing to draw to your attention a significant issue in the
development of risk management strategies for hazardous waste cleanup:
the relationship of cleanup standards to anticipated future land use.
Remedies based upon institutional land use controls often curtail local
planning prerogatives simply to benefit responsible parties. They fail
to recognize that land use policies in many areas are likely to change
over the life of the contamination. Furthermore, controls - even when
they are reinforced by legal instruments that "run with the land" -
provide uncertain or temporary protection for public health and the
environment. Nevertheless, remedies are increasingly being linked to the
future use of the contaminated property.

We believe that it is both possible and imperative to build safeguards
into the decision-making process, both to recognize that land use
planning generally is and should remain a local prerogative and to
ensure that the local community is prepared to enforce whatever controls
are necessary. Specifically, we recommend:

* The appropriate regulatory agency(ies) shall not approve any remedy or
response that incorporates or requires institutional controls on future
land use - that is, which restrict otherwise acceptable uses of the
property - without FULL PUBLIC REVIEW (notice and hearings) and approval
by the applicable local land use planning authority. Any such process
should be designed to involve directly site neighbors and others
directly affected by the resulting decisions.

* Where, through a formal finding of technical impracticability, it is
found that the property cannot be cleaned to the level desired by the
community, the local jurisdiction still should be directly involved in
the determination of institutional controls, for which in the long run
it may bear the responsibility of enforcement.

* Review and approval by the local land use planning authority should
not diminish the ability of the general community and community working
groups or advisory boards to oversee the remedy selection process. This
includes the provision of advice regarding the adoption of land use or
other controls necessary for remedies to be effective.

* In addition, local predominance in land use planning does not and
should not override the roles of public trust agencies and natural
resource trustees to protect the land and other natural resources for
which they have responsibility.

* While the level of public involvement in the cleanup decision-making
process often diminishes once remedies are selected, it is essential to
maintain continuing channels for public oversight wherever those
remedies require long-term institutional controls or active operation
and maintenance.

* In addition, mechanisms to assure the effectiveness of institutional
controls are essential.

We believe that this approach will increase the likelihood that land use
controls will be both appropriate and effective. Anything less passes
the economic, health, and natural resource cost of the contamination to
the site's neighbors, the community in general, and to future
generations.

SIGNED:

Mary Burtness
Co-chair of the King Salmon Air Force Station RAB 
King Salmon, AK

Ecology Center
Berkeley, CA

Michael Warburton,
Coordinator
Public Trust Legal Project
Berkeley, CA

Marady Conner
Principal
Conner Communication
Los Angeles, CA 

Vernon J. Brechin,
Director
AE Systems
Mountain View, CA

Don Zweifel
Orange, CA

Lenny Siegel
Director, SFSU CAREER/PRO
San Francisco, CA

Peter Strauss,
PM Strauss & Associates
San Francisco, CA

Mark Youngkin
Community Member
Presidio Restoration Advisory Board
San Francisco, CA

Anne W. Callison
Concerned Taxpayer
Denver, CO

Richard Hugus
Otis Conversion Project, Cape Cod
Falmouth, MA 

Paul Zanis 
Impact area review team member
Forestdale, MA 

Theodore J. Henry
University of Maryland at Baltimore
Baltimore, MD 

Dan Alstott
President/CEO
AuSable Manistee Action Council
Grayling, MI

Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment
New York, NY

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., P.G.
Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, Inc.
Oak Ridge, TN

Mavis Belisle
Director
Peace Farm
Panhandle, TX

Gerald Pollet J.D. 
Executive Director
Heart of America Northwest
Seattle, WA 

Laura Olah
Executive Director
Citizens For Safe Water Around Badger
Merrimac, WI

Bart Olson
Sauk County 20th District Supervisor
Merrimac, WI