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New York’s brownfield cleanup program created under a state law in 2003 provides substantial tax credits and other incentives to clean up and redevelop abandoned or neglected properties, known as brownfields. The level of cleanup is based on the future use of the site, whether it be residential, commercial or industrial. The law sets up a hierarchy of cleanups, with a preference for complete and permanent cleanups. Sites that are cleaned up enough to be safe for residential and all other uses receive the highest tax credits.
But the state has broken its promise to New Yorkers, according to the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) . The agency responsible for overseeing toxic waste cleanups and protecting our health and the environment has come up with a plan that would leave unsafe levels of pollution at brownfield sites that have been “cleaned up”, according to NYPIRG.
The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is requesting comments on draft regulations for cleaning up brownfields and Superfund toxic waste sites. NYPIRG warns that these regulations will set the standard for environmental cleanups in New York for years to come. DEC’s proposed regulations would allow too much toxic waste to stay on site, putting the public’s health, drinking water and environment at risk, NYPIRG says.
Nearly every community in New York State is affected by brownfield sites. Contaminated and abandoned properties exist in big cities, small towns, sprawling suburbs and the rural countryside. Inadequate cleanups that leave too much contamination on site can result in health and environmental problems for people living near the site, such as polluting nearby wells used for drinking water and toxic runoff leaching into basements, and can endanger people who live or work on the site in the future.
The Brownfield law requires that cleanups protect people, especially children, as well as drinking water, rivers and streams, and fish and wildlife. Instead, DEC is proposing cleanup standards would allow unsafe levels of heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and other toxic chemicals to remain on site. Leaving too much contamination on site can result in health and environmental problems offsite, such as groundwater contamination and toxic runoff, and can endanger people who live or work on the site in the future.
NYPIRG, together with the Center for Health and Environmental Justice, Citizens’ Environmental Coalition, Environmental Advocates, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, and the Sierra Club, has prepared talking points on some of the key problem areas in the draft regulations that they say need to be fixed.
DEC is conducting public hearings on the Draft Brownfield Cleanup Regulations and the next hearing is Wednesday, March 15 beginning at 1 p.m. in Albany at DEC offices at 625 Broadway, Room 129 A&B in Albany.
Persons interested in obtaining more information about brownfields may contact Laura Haight at 518-436-0876, Melinda Sobin at 315-423-4404 or Joel Kelsey at 212-349-6460 or visit www.nypirg.org
To see the draft regulations, go to DEC’s website at:
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/der/superfund/
Written comments must be submitted to the DEC by March 27 to Robert W. Schick, P.E. NYSDEC, Division of Environmental Remediation 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-7014 . Email written comments to: derweb@gw.dec.state.ny.us 3-10-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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