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Numerous
warning signs are posted on the fence surrounding the former Oahu Sugar
Company’s pesticide mixing area. |
The UECA, a new state statute that enforces restrictions on the use of remediated brownfields, is now the law in South Dakota. The Uniform Environmental Covenants Act (SB 143) was signed into law by South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds on March 9, 2005.
UECA was also recently passed in Ohio, Kentucky and Nebraska and has been introduced in several additional state legislatures so far this year.
UECA, drafted and approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), establishes requirements for a new valid real estate document — an “environmental covenant” — to control the future use of brownfields when real estate is transferred from one person to another.
“UECA provides a clear mechanism for the states to create, enforce, modify and terminate environmental covenants to control the use of contaminated real estate and permit safe reuse of that property,” said Michael Kerr, deputy legislative director of NCCUSL.
“The act makes it possible for owners to transfer property knowing that the restrictions that need to be kept on that property will be respected.” BFN