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EPA and NOAA To Address
Coastal Growth, Development Issues
Environmental Industry Report
Released
GAO Report on Brownfield Redevelopment
Marsh Reaches Settlement
Local Brownfield Acquisition Task Force
Formed
Sustainable Leadership Awards
Brownfields Federal Programs
Guide
State Programs: An Update from the
States
Bush FY 2006 Brownfield Budget Request
Announced
EPA and NOAA
To Address Coastal Growth, Development Issues
The U.S. EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
have formalized an agreement to work together to help coastal communities
grow in ways that benefit the economy, public health and the environment.
The new coastal communities partnership will seek to deliver the latest information and technology to communities for reusing previously developed land and providing more housing and transportation choices, while preserving critical natural areas and limiting air and water pollution.
The EPA-NOAA partnership will provide training for local government staff and officials, outreach and education on successful policies, ordinances and initiatives, and assessments of the impacts on sensitive coastal areas.
Coastal watersheds (areas draining into bays and oceans) are growing rapidly, with 55 percent of the U.S. population living within 50 miles of a coast. In the past 20 years, the rate of all land development nationwide has grown 30 percent, twice the rate of population growth. BFN
Environmental
Industry Report Released
The proposed All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI) rule has environmental professionals
who conduct ESAs gearing up for change, according to Environmental Data Resources’
2005 Environmental Site Assessment Industry Benchmark Report. The study found:
EDR surveyed nearly 360 environmental consultants at 283 unique companies of all sizes in all geographic regions of the United States. The report can be purchased online at www.edrnet.com
GAO Report
on Brownfield Redevelopment
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to obtain stakeholders’
views on EPA’s contribution to brownfield cleanup and redevelopment,
determine the extent to which EPA measures program accomplishments and obtain
views on options to improve or complement EPA’s program.
The report, available at www.gao.gov, found that EPA’s Brownfields Program supports the initial stages of site redevelopment by funding activities that other lenders often do not, such as identifying contamination and cleaning up sites. The impact of EPA’s funding is difficult to isolate because it is often combined with funds from other sources.
EPA’s current performance measures do not measure major components of the Brownfields Program, such as progress toward cleaning and redeveloping sites or assisting state programs. Furthermore, EPA has not yet developed measures to assess the extent to which the program achieves key outcomes, such as reducing or controlling health and environmental risks.
Stakeholders identified three options for improving or complementing EPA’s Brownfields Program:
1. Eliminating the provision in the Brownfields Act that, in effect, disqualifies from grant eligibility those landowners who purchased a brownfield site before January 2002 2. Changes to the stringent technical and administrative requirements that they believe have discouraged the use of revolving loan funds
3. A federal tax credit for developers' remediation costs that could attract developers to brownfield sites on a broader national basis
Marsh Reaches
Settlement
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC) has reached an agreement with the
New York State Attorney General and the Superintendent of the New York State
Insurance Department.
As a result of this agreement, the company will enact reforms in transparency and service to clients and establish an $850 million fund to compensate clients. Under the terms of the agreement, the company neither admits nor denies the allegations. No portion of this fund represents a fine or penalty.
The fund will compensate U.S. policyholder clients who retained Marsh to place insurance with inceptions between January 1, 2001 and Dec-ember 31, 2004, where such placements resulted in contingent commissions or overrides recorded by Marsh.
The company had discontinued the practice of receiving contingent compensation from insurance carriers effective October 1, 2004 and will provide clients with a comprehensive disclosure of all forms of compensation received from insurers.
Local Brownfield
Acquisition Task Force formed
The National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP)
has formed a “Local Brownfields Acquisition Task Force” of approximately
30 local officials from across the country. Ceil Price, an attorney with the
City of Houston, and Evans Paull, of the Baltimore Development Corporation,
serve as co-chairs of the task force.
This group plans to request updated guidance from the U.S. EPA about local
governments’ liability under Superfund for the “involuntary acquisition”
and ownership of contaminated brownfield properties through eminent domain
or condemnation. The task force will research and examine the issue, develop
a position paper on the need for updated EPA guidance, and present the findings
to EPA and Department of Justice brownfield and enforcement officials.
NALGEP would like to hear from anyone with relevant experience. For more information,
contact Weston Donehower at (202) 879-4005. link to weston.donehower@spiegelmcd.com.
Sustainable
Leadership Awards
CoreNet Global, a professional association of corporate real estate executives,
recently presented Sustainable Leadership Awards to four for-profit companies
and non-profit agencies whose commitment to sustainability and corporate social
responsibility is exemplary.
CoreNet gives the awards annually in conjunction with International Interior Design Association and the American Institute of Architects. This year’s winners are:
Brownfields Federal Programs
Guide
The U.S. EPA has released a “Brownfields Federal Programs Guide”
to help users navigate the nearly two-dozen federal programs that can help
communities assess, clean up and reuse brownfields.
Although only a few of these programs focus explicitly on brownfields, communities can apply some creativity to make the brownfield connection and benefit from many other federal programs. The guide examines, in alphabetical order, the resources available in other departments and agencies that could be applied to brownfields
This guide provides current program descriptions and contact names. Short descriptions of each agency’s offerings and the entities that can use them are also included.
State Programs: An Update from
the States
States have put into place many different approaches to meet the multiple
challenges and common objectives of brownfield cleanup and reuse. A new report
from the U.S. EPA titled “State Brownfields and Voluntary Response Programs:
An Update from the States” explores the evolving landscape of these
state environmental, financial and technical programs, including the incentives
designed to promote brownfield cleanup and redevelopment.
It looks at multiple components of state brownfield and voluntary response programs, and includes a synopsis of each state’s response programs along with contact information. Both reports can be downloaded from www.epa.gov/brownfields.
Bush FY 2006 Brownfield Budget
Request Announced
President Bush is requesting $210 million for the EPA brownfields program,
an increase of $46.9 million. The administration states that the brownfields
program is a top environmental priority.
Together with the extension of the brownfields tax credit, EPA expects to achieve the following in FY 2006:
However, other programs impacting brownfield redevelopment, such as CDBG and BEDI, are among the 18 programs that would be consolidated into a single program funded at $3.71 billion in fiscal 2006, some 34.5 percent less than existing funding levels. Read our analysis of the Bush budget request.