Brownfields Programs
Brownfields are abandoned, idle or underused industrial and
commercial properties often located in low-income, urban areas
that can be redeveloped. Such sites often have some level of
environmental contamination, although they are less tainted than
state or federally-designated Superfund sites. With the
increased demand for development space, government and private
industry are turning toward brownfields for potential land use.
Cleaning up brownfields puts unproductive land back into use,
creates jobs, increases the real estate tax base and reduces
urban blight. However, it is often an expensive, risky
undertaking for developers and municipalities who must bear the
cost and responsibility of environmental remediation. And if the
nature and extent of contamination ultimately proves too costly
to remediate, a developer may be forced to withdraw his or her
plan completely.
Eighty percent of New York City's brownfield sites are on the
City's waterfront where, during the past 50 years, there has
been a continuing growth of abandoned industrial sites blighting
the shores of every borough.
In 1996, EPA awarded New York City a $200,000 Brownfield Pilot
Demonstration Program grant to create a brownfields task force.
Headed by the Mayor's Office of Environmental Coordination and
consisting of City agencies, community groups, business people
and environmental advocates, the task force is continuing beyond
the original two-year timeframe, studying the issues associated
with reusing the City's brownfields for industrial, commercial
or residential projects. The grant also funded an inventory of
brownfield sites in New York City. Brownfield advocates credit
the grant and task force with helping to form the Pocantico
Roundtable for Consensus on Brownfields, an important
collaboration that did extensive work to come up with solutions
to complex issues relating to remediation and liability. The
Roundtable contributed to new legislation to reform the state's
laws and advance cleanups around the state, as well as New York
City (see below).
The 1996 NYS Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act has allocated $200
million toward brownfield cleanup. Known as the Environmental
Restoration Project Fund, it is the largest brownfield grant
program in the country. While it provides funding for the
investigation and possible restoration of brownfields, the
statute's eligibility restrictions - particularly for large
municipalities like NYC - are a major impediment to the
program's full implementation. As of March 31, 2000, the
Department of Environmental Conservation has identified 99
projects in 46 communities throughout the state to receive
grants totalling $18.8 million ($8 million was for 88 site
investigations; $10.8 million was for 11 remediation projects).
Moreover, the Bond Act money can be used only if a site is
cleaned to a standard as stringent as that for federal Superfund
sites. The expense associated with this level of cleaning has
discouraged potential brownfield developers.
State Superfund and Brownfields
Legislative Proposals
In 1999, several bills were drafted - by state environmental
coalitions, the state legislature, and the Governor's Office -
to address the complex remediation,
financing and liability issues surrounding the State's inactive
hazardous waste sites and brownfields. The proposed bills
represent numerous compromises reached after many months of
painstaking negotiation by diverse groups. Collectively, they
attempt to modify the current state Superfund Program, codify
the state's voluntary cleanup program and create methods for
setting soil cleanup standards and procedures that are tied to a
site's present and future land use. These bills await
consideration in the 2003 legislative session.
Parties Involved:
Government: Federal: Environmental Protection Agency; State: New
York State Legislature, Department of Environmental
Conservation; City: Office of Environmental Coordination; DEP
Bureau of Air, Noise and Hazardous Materials. Advocates:
Citizens Environmental Coalition, New York Public Interest
Research Group, Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club,
Environmental Defense, New York Conservation Education Fund.
From New York League of
Conservation Voters Winter 2003 Newsletter (EcoPolitics):
http://www.nylcv.org/ecopolitics/ecopol.htm
Brownfields/Superfund
NYLCV supports comprehensive
Superfund/brownfields legislation. Governor Pataki's proposal,
for example, covers Superfund and brownfields sites, oil spills,
and hazardous substances sites, as well as significant increases
in long-term funding for these programs.
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| Legislation on
brownfields, such as this one in Brooklyn, are among the
priorities for NYLCV's state advocacy efforts in 2003. |
The legislation should
streamline and codify the Volunteer Compliance Program and
provide tax credits or other incentives to encourage the
productive reuse of contaminated sites. It should establish
baseline cleanup standards and additional standards depending
upon reuse of the site.
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