First Test: Prospective Purchaser Defense Fails

 Here's a good summary of the court case in SC where the purchaser conducted All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI) and still got hit with cleanup costs.

http://www.iowaenvironmentallawupdate.com/articles/all-appropriate-inquiry/

Renewable Energy Feasibility Studies on Contaminated Properties - Deadline May 20, 2011

Through its RE-Powering America’s Land: Siting Renewable Energy on

Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites initiative, The U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from

states, tribes, regional governments, and communities that want to

evaluate the potential development of renewable energy on potentially or

formerly contaminated properties. This evaluation will be in the form of

a feasibility study conducted by the Department of Energy National

Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) that will determine the best

renewable energy technology for the site, the optimal location for

placement of the renewable energy technology, potential energy

generating capacity, the return on the investment, and the economic

feasibility of the renewable energy projects.  The purpose of the

technical assistance is to reuse sites, improve communities, create

jobs, develop partnerships, decrease the use of greenspace for siting

renewable energy, and increase the amount of renewable energy generated.

Proposals are due to EPA Friday May 20 and may be submitted to

matthews.lura@epa.gov.  More information on the RE-Powering initiative

and the request for applications can be found at

http://www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland/

Kentucky at Brownfields 2011

At the 2011 Brownfields Conference in Philadelphia, get all your basic information about Kentucky departments/organizations attending the ERF, financial incentives for brownfield redevelopment, state and local programs, property listings, contact information. Check back often [LINK] as new material will be added regularly.

Florida at Brownfields 2011

At the Philadelphia 2011 Brownfield Conference, get all your basic information about Florida departments/organizations attending the ERF, financial incentives for brownfield redevelopment, state and local programs, property listings, contact information. Check back often [LINK] as new material will be added regularly.

TN Brownfield - Former Brookside Mills Property

The former Brookside Mills is being showcased on the Brownfields 2011 Redevelopment Forum web site.  The property, at 523 West Baxter Avenue, is located less than one mile north of downtown Knoxville and the I-40 / I-275 interchange, and approximately two miles south of the I-75 / I-640 interchange. The 19.4-acre property is zoned for Industrial use, which has become a highly sought-after zoning in this urban setting, particularly for sites with immediate Interstate access and frontage such as 523 West Baxter Avenue. The area surrounding this site is a mix of mostly commercial, industrial, and some residential properties. The former Brookside Mills property was operated primarily as a fabric weaving mill from 1885 to 1969. Coal was stored and burned on the property as a fuel source for an extended period. After 1969, several of the buildings were leased to a department store and clothing sewing operations. Environmental assessment activities at the site have included a Phase I and Phase II ESA. The findings of the 2006 Phase II assessment indicate modest impacts are present, requiring modest corrective actions for redevelopment. As the current property owner, the Industrial Development Board of the City of Knoxville has negotiated a TDEC Voluntary Cleanup Oversight and Assistance Program (VOAP) Brownfield Voluntary Agreement. The Agreement can be readily transferred to the benefit of a qualified new owner. Upon completion of the obligations in the Brownfield Agreement by the Voluntary Party (i.e. the developer or new owner), the State will provide indemnification to the Voluntary Party from claims by the State and by third parties related to contamination at the property. All of the site buildings were demolished in 1996. The property is currently vacant; however, many of the foundations and concrete slabs on which buildings had been constructed are still visible. The site is partially wooded with a tributary of Second Creek running along the eastern edge of the property.

For more information, go to the Redevelopment Forum Web site -> LINK

Alabama at Brownfield 2011

At the Philadelphia Brownfield Conference, get all your basic information about Alabama departments/organizations attending the Environmental Redevelopment Forum, financial incentives for brownfield redevelopment, state and local programs, property listings, contact information. Check back often as new material will be added regularly.

LINK TO ADEM INFO ON BROWNFIELDS 2011 CONFERENCE WEB PAGE

EPA proposes CTS Superfund site near Asheville, NC

SKYLAND — The Citizen's Times (Bompey, 3/8) reports that "the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it has proposed including the former CTS of Asheville plant on its list of the nation's most environmentally contaminated properties.  Placement on the National Priorities List could speed cleanup of the site off Mills Gap Road, where officials have found ground and well water contaminated with an industrial solvent and suspected carcinogens.  The EPA has 40,000 sites on its Superfund list. Of those, there are 1,290 on the priorities list, including 35 in North Carolina and six in Western North Carolina.  Residents near the plant for years have pushed government agencies to pay closer attention to threats from the former plant site. Some said Tuesday they were skeptical the latest step would bring action.'If I thought it was going to be a short period of time and maybe something would be done, I guess I would be elated about it,' resident Dot Rice said. 'But I know we will just be put on a list and wait and wait for something to be done.'"

[MORE]

Brownfield Tip of the Month (March) - Ranking Criteria #1 - Community Need - Health Effects and Chemicals of Concern (Atrazine)

For the EPA Brownfield Assessment Grant, ten (10) points are assigned to the criterion where you "describe the effect brownfields have on your targeted community by providing information on the number and size of the brownfields and the health, welfare, and environmental impacts of these sites...."  This is sometimes difficult to measure, particularly when trying to draw a link between brownfield contamination and community health.  It is also a slippery slope since it may be a stretch to say that groundwater that is perched and 50 feet deep that is contaminated with metals is impacting a community that gets 100% of its drinking water from an entirely different (and deeper) aquifer.  Also, do you really want to give the targeted community the impression that their groundwater is contaminated and that it is impacting their health.

When it comes to Surface Water, however, here's an idea.  Assessment and management of pesticides require far more information than we can afford to directly measure for all the places, times, and pesticides of interest. In addition, many decisions-such as setting monitoring priorities, approving registration of a new pesticide, and determining how much to spend on a management strategy-inherently depend on predicting the potential effects of pesticides on water quality for locations or amounts of use that have never been directly assessed. In these situations, statistical models and other types of models are used for predicting water-quality conditions at unmonitored locations under a range of possible circumstances.

The National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program is developing a series of statistical models, based on monitoring data and watershed characteristics, to enable estimation of pesticide concentrations for streams that have not been monitored. The Watershed Regression for Pesticides models are referred to as WARP models. The first completed WARP model is for atrazine, one of the most heavily used herbicides in the United States (Figure 1).

Consider using the NAWQA Program model in your October Grant Submittal.

Good Luck!