Site Index
(updated 8/1/2005)

*  EPA Technical Support.  Feb. 23, 2004

Brownfields and Innovative Technologies - Dec. 15, 2004

 New Directions for New York's
        Program? updated 10/18/04 
developments in the NYS Legislature...developments at NYS DEC...positions of various interest groups. 

!!Claimed abuse of brownfield tax credits by New York City projects slows down new project approvals and threatens future of program.  One New York City project, in the works before approval of legislation containing brownfield redevelopment tax credits, involving no prior industrial activity, and containing only limited contamination (one 7,500-gal., above-ground fuel-oil storage tank; two previously removed 550-gal. above-ground storage tanks; and elevators that may have used PCB-containing fluids) , is seeking a huge brownfield tax credit of $170 million or more.  The potential tax credit for this one New York City project exceeds the entire anticipated cost of the full tax credit program--originally estimated at approximately $135 million when the tax credit program becomes fully effective in 2006.  This is causing DEC to reassess its definition of an eligible "brownfield" site (e.g., can redevelopment of a highly valuable commercial property in midtown Manhattan, that was committed to before brownfield tax credits existed, be considered to be "complicated by" the presence of minor contamination?) and is delaying the acceptance of new BCP applications.  It is also creating negative PR and has elicited criticism from environmental groups and influential legislators (see below).  Observers fear that the 2005 legislative session will see efforts to roll-back or cap the tax credit program.  Oct. 18, 2004.

For critical articles and commentaries (copyrighted by the respective organizations), see the following:

  * New York Post, June 30, 2004 (nypost.com)
  * City Limits Weekly, June 28, 2004 (Copyright (c) 2004 City Limits Community Information Service, Inc.)

  * City Limits Monthly, September/October 2004 (Copyright (c) 2004 City Limits Community Information Service, Inc.)

  * The New York Sun, Sept. 30, 2004 and New York Sports Express, October 14, 2004

  * NT Issue Briefs, Aug. 25, 2004 (National Taxpayers Union & National Taxpayers Union Foundation)

New York State DEC draft BCP Eligibility Criteria--the State's attempt to deal with this issue administratively.  Dec. 1, 2004.

New York State DEC final BCP Eligibility Criteria--how the State acted in response to public comments.  Added May 2, 2005.

Selected public comments on the DEC draft.  Dec. 1, 2004.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!

Environmental Remediation Process is Undergoing Sweeping Changes Mandated by New Brownfields Law, by Dale Desnoyers [Director, DEC Division of Environmental Remediation] and Larry Schnapf [Attorney, Schulte Roth & Zable, New York City], New York State Bar Assocation Journal, October 2004, Vol. 76, No. 8, pp. 10-26.