Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses conference attendees as panel members look on.  Left to right: NYS Senator Carl Marcellino (partial view), NYS Chapter President and Yonkers Deputy Mayor Phil Amicone, Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, and NBA Executive Director Robert Colangelo.

U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: "Reclaiming brownfields is one of the best investments we can make in New York.... Redevelopment of brownfields puts land back to work.  It is the ultimate form of recycling....  Brownfield investing is economically viable and pays off....  There isn't any more land being made."  Senator Clinton referred to a survey of eight New York cities, that had a total of 6,500 brownfield sites consisting of more than 6,000 acres.  "The New York State Chapter can play a big role" in returning those and other NYS brownfields to productive use.  The Senator cited three primary reasons for promoting brownfields redevelopment:

• The absence of prosperous urban cores has been shown to have a "ripple effect."
• Redevelopment is more cost-effective than sprawl development.
• It is ethically repugnant to be a throwaway society.

Phil Amicone, NYS Chapter President and Yonkers Deputy Mayor

(Left)

Above:  Yonkers Mayor John Spenser--as Robert Colangelo walks behind and U.S. Senator Clinton and NYS Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli listen.

NYS Chapter President, Phil Amicone: This site (Yonkers Riverside Library) was once the home to Otis Elevator.  It was also formerly the site of the largest carpet mill in the world--Alexander Smith Carpet Mill.  When jobs left, people left.  Retailers then left.  Wastes were left behind.  The entire waterfront (4-1/2 miles of it in Yonkers) is a Brownfield site.  An old oil tank storage facility will be reclaimed for riverfront parkland.  "Our cities need help....  It's got to be private investment.  Legislation should be dynamic and should change over time to meet the needs of the cities and the environment."

Senator Carl Marcellino (R-Long Island)

Sen. Carl Marcellino:  Has been chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee since 1995 and has worked on this legislation for "over seven years."  In enacting brownfields legislation this year, "getting the groups together at the table was the key....  Val Washington of Environmental Advocates... broke the logjam by supporting the Marcellino bill."  "This is not a perfect bill.  It's an act in progress....  This bill is going to grow as you want it to grow.  It has the potential to be the greatest economic development bill and environmental cleanup bill this State has ever seen."  "We want the community organizations in there.  Not to stay on the outside throwing bombs."  "These [brownfield sites] are cancers killing our inner cities."  "The municipal brownfields program [established in 1996 under the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act] didn't work.  This bill provides a municipal exemption [and improves the features of the municipal program]."  "I look forward to coming back in the near future to see the progress being made [under the new legislation].... We've got to protect what we've got.  We're not making any more land."  Under the tax credit program, "the more jobs you create, the more tax credits you get.  It converts drain to gain."  "I couldn't have done it without [fellow Long Islander] Tom DiNapoli's partnership."  This legislation provides the "most stringent environmental cleanups in the country."  "I thank you [NYS Chapter members] for what you're going to do for the State of New York."

Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli (above): "You have a very important task ahead of you....  We're hoping this legislation will enable more progress to be made....  I commend Senator Clinton for prodding New York State to do the right thing.... Pat Manning [Ranking Minority Member on the Assembly's Environmental Conservation Committee] also gave full support.... The task was [also] made easier by the very proactive role of [DEC] Commissioner Erin Crotty....  This was an issue that Senator Marcellino and I agreed we had to deal with, but it was not a simple process....  [The legislation] provides a unique opportunity to do good things for the environment and do good things for the economy as well....  It is a work in progress.  We'll want your continued input.  If we need to amend it, we'll certainly be open to doing it....  The legislation provides a very important opportunity for Community-Based Organizations [CBOs] and grassroots organizations to be involved in the process....  We know of situations at this time where contamination was not fully address and it had to be done again.  It's a long-term goal of balancing environmental protection and economic development.... Is it perfect?  Probably not....  It couldn't have happened without your collective input."

Dale Desnoyers, Director, NYS DEC Division of Environmental Remediation 

Dale Desnoyers (DEC Division Director): "This has been a long awaited, much debated piece of legislation on which I spent 6 years of my life....  It really is a part of Quality Communities....  For the past 5 years, Governor Pataki has been introducing comprehensive legislation.... The key component is liability reform.... It will open the door to brownfields redevelopment by providing liability limitations under the new Brownfields Cleanup Program (BCP).  The [liability] reopeners are substantially similar to those under the current administrative program [which has addressed 535 sites]....The BCP includes a use-based module.  It establishes clear and predictable cleanup tracks.... It provides timeframes.... For the first time, it sets clear goals....  The BCP is substantially the same as today's VCP [Voluntary Cleanup Program]....  The application process is a little more time-consuming.  The investigation process is the same as today's....  The remedy selection process [is more detailed].  The remedial workplan needs to include an alternatives analysis.  DEC applies 20+ years of experience to its review of remedial work plans.  But the end-result should be the same [as under the predecessor VCP program]....  The legislation provides tax credits.  This is one of its key components.  The tax credits should offset some of the additional procedural requirements."  There is a Redevelopment Tax Credit; a Real Property credit for job creation; and an Environmental Insurance Tax Credit of up to $30,000.  "Citizen participation is key....  There are 7 different opportunities to participate, including 3 opportunities for public notice and comment.  The regulations DEC will develop will integrate public participation into the process without compromising the timeframe."  "The municipal brownfields program now allows municipalities to leverage their 10 percent share [i.e., they can pay for it with an EPA grant, etc.]....  And, it removes the requirement under the Environmental Restoration Program that profits [on resale of a remediated brownfields site] be shared with the State...."  And it establishes a Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) grant program.  "It marries brownfields management with community planning.  It allows CBOs to participate with localities in areawide planning."

The new regulations and guidance will be rolled in an orderly way by DEC.  Interim guidance will be published in the Environmental Notice Bulletin "in the next 30-45 days" [i.e., by mid-November].  DEC will start accepting applications under the new BCP "the day the Governor signs [the legislation]....  A lot of things will require interpretation....  In late November to early December, DEC will hold cable presentations at locations across the State.  There will be presentations at workshop in April or May and in October or November.  DEC will also do three statewide presentations (in Buffalo, New York City, and Long Island) in coordination with the Environmental Business Association of New York State."

"The law creates a lot of tools, but it is not the end [of the process].  It will take a while to get the bugs out.  We'll be back to fine-tune the brownfields law in much less than [the 6 years it took to update the municipal brownfields provisions of the 1996 Bond Act]."

All in the same boat (above): [Left to Right:]  Linda Shaw (Rochester environmental attorney and member of the NBA NYS Chapter executive team); Beth Meer (key NYS Assembly bill drafter); and Jody Kass (New Partners for Community Revitalization).  All were key players in development of the new legislation.

Linda Shaw (Rochester Attorney): The legislation contains "carrots and sticks."  The new tax credits will take effect as of tax year 2005, but credit will be given for expenditures in 2004.  Redevelopers will get up to 20% of site preparation expenditures back.  If expenditures exceed the developer's tax liability, the State will rebate the difference.  "I expect that a new market will be created for responsible parties [e.g., industrial site owners] to partner with prospective purchasers/redevelopers"--in order to take advantage of use-based cleanups, tax credits, and liability releases.  There is also a maximum credit of 22% for redevelopment of brownfield sites within a BOA zone.  Outside the zone, the credits are 10% or 12% (there is an extra 2% credit for unrestricted-use cleanups).  There is also tax credit for ongoing groundwater remediation, for up to 5 years. 

"The cleanup numbers will be geared to site uses [use-based cleanup track], but we will still have very stringent cleanup numbers.... The new process is potentially more cumbersome....  A one-year lead time is acceptable.  Substantially more than that is not.  On the liability release side, two of the reopeners are problematic: (a) the one for a change of use (not limited to a change in use category); and (b) the one for sites that are not redeveloped within 3 years."

Above: Chris Ward (NYC DEC Commissioner) shakes hands with Phil Amicone as he moves to the podium. 

Right: Troy Mayor Mark Pattison.
 

Chris Ward (NYC DEC): "This is about perfecting [the process of] getting deals done....  We need to  link multiple sites together from a comprehensive planning standpoint...."

Mark Pattison (Mayor, Troy, NY): "We put together a South Troy Redevelopment Plan, which involved creating 3 commercial areas by moving industries from 100 acres (of the total 250 acres) to the southern part of the area [to make room for commercial redevelopment]."

Above: Rob Benrubi (Nassau County Brownfields Administrator): Nassau County has 1,700 to more than 2,000 brownfield parcels.  "We approach brownfield issues from an economic development standpoint... and coordinate with other offices in the County.... We participate in the "New York Metro Brownfields Loan Fund, which leverages $1 million in public sector money with $5 million of private sector resources....  We pool properties to create a portfolio of private and public owned properties--to get the development community interested....  We have also established an environmental insurance pool--to spread out the insurance costs on a lot of smaller properties that it would not be practicable otherwise to redevelop....  We will be putting out an RFP in December for proposals to redevelop a 1.3-million square foot, 100-acre former Grumman facility."

Above right: Ed Doherty (Rochester Commissioner of Environmental Services): Rochester is the State's third largest city, with 1.3 million people in the metropolitan area.  Have overcome low property values in the urban core... but property values on the fringes are very low.  "We have cleaned up about 50 sites over the past 7-10 years and we have about 35 additional sites we're working on.  About one-quarter of these sites have been in the State or Federal brownfields program....  We've done a number of housign and mixed-use projects.  At least 200 housing units have been built on brownfield sites and another 200 are in the works....  The professional staff that works on these sites are the same people who clean up the City's sites.... We work as a team.... We meet annually to plan out work on site's included on our master list.... We have used the New York State brownfields program very effectively....  Our City Council has also supported the effort with annual appropriations.     

Above: Above: Ed Sheeran (City of Yonkers IDA) speaks as other panelists look on.

Right: Right: National Brownfield Association President (and AIG Executive Vice-President) Ken Cornell makes closing remarks.  à

Ed Sheeran (Yonkers IDA): "We have 4-1/2 miles of waterfront.... Mayor Spencer came in in 1996 and developed a master plan....  He than took out an insurance policy on an old oil company tank farm.  The Riverside Library jump-started downtown development...."

Above left and right: Views of the Yonkers waterfront....

Right: Linda Shaw and Jody Kass enjoy the boat tour....