United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Site Remediation
Enforcement (2271 A)
Washington, DC 20460
&EPA cleanupnews
Winter 2002
EPA 300-N-02-005
Issue #9
inside
News 2
Co-Located Sites in Lowell,
MA Offer Opportunity for
Coordination 3
In the Courts: 4
Kayser-Roth Corp.
3M, Krejci Dump Site
V-1 Oil Company
Private Lawsuits
Calendar 8
CleanupNews fe a quarterly
newsletter highlighting
hazardous waste cleanup
cases, policies, settlements,
and technologies.
Looking on as President Bush signs the Brownfields
legislation are (L-R): Rep. Paul Gillmor, R-OH; Rep.
Robert Borski, D-PA; State Attorney General Mike
Fisher; EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman;
Rep. Joseph Hoeffel, D-PA; and Pennsylvania Gover-
nor Mark Schweiker. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
President Signs New
Brownf ields Legislation
On January 11,2002, President
Bush visited the Millennium
Corporate Center in Con-
shohocken, Pennsylvania to sign
bipartisan legislation that will
encourage the cleanup and redevel-
opment of old industrial properties.
Congress approved the bipartisan
bill without opposition in December
2001. The Small Business Liability
Relief and Brownfields Revitalization
Act will help clean up the environ-
ment, create new jobs, return pro-
ductive property to local tax rolls,
and protect small businesses from frivolous lawsuits.
Brownfields are abandoned or underutilized industrial or commercial properties
where redevelopment is hindered by possible environmental contamination and poten-
tial liability under Superfund for parties that purchase or operate these sites. EPA esti-
mates that between 500,000 and one million continued on page 6
EPA Signs Final Cleanup
Plan for Hudson River
Plan Makes Public Involvement a Top Priority
On February 1, 2002, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Regional
Administrator Jane Kenny took a major step toward a healthier Hudson River by
signing a Record of Decision (ROD) on a cleanup plan for the river. The final plan
calls for dredging 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment from a 40-mile
stretch of the upper Hudson to remove an estimated 150,000 pounds of polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs). EPA also announced that it will establish a field office in the upper
Hudson region staffed by an experienced senior manager to coordinate design activities
in concert with the community.
'The Hudson River is a national treasure and this plan brings us closer to one of my
overall goals - leaving our water purer for future generations" said Whitman. "We are
moving ahead with this cleanup using an open process and continued on page 2
Printed on recycled paper
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"Fundamentals of
Environmental
Justice Workshop"
Train-the-Trainer
Forum
A November 2001 'Train-the-
Trainer" forum brought
together 35 people represent-
ing EPA, state partners (California,
Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, New
York, Rhode Island), and diverse
stakeholders (community, tribal, and
faith-based organizations, academia,
and industry) to learn the fundamen-
tals of environmental justice. The
forum was held in Boston at the EPA
New England offices, capping a year-
and-a-half effort to develop and imple-
ment the workshop. Participants are
trained to identify and address envi-
ronmental justice issues at work and
in communities, and to promote col-
laborative partnerships. In the next
12 months, trainers will lead more
than 140 workshops and train more
than 3,000 people from EPA other fed-
eral agencies, states, tribes, communi-
ties, and industry in this nationally
consistent, high quality curriculum.
At the conclusion of the forum,
Regional Administrator Robert Varney
announced that his 800 employees will
participate in an appropriately tailored
version of the workshop. For more
information, contact Nicholas Targ at
202-564-2406.
$2 Million in
Brownf ields Job
Training
In December 2001, EPA Administrator
Christine Todd Whitman announced $2
million in grants to provide environ-
mental job training at brownfields sites
in nine states and Washington, B.C. Job
skills learned in the course of brown-
fields cleanup will help participants
pursue careers in the environmental
field, noted Administrator Whitman.
The ten new Job Training Demonstra-
tion Pilot Projects — in the District of
Columbia, Ohio, Rhode Island, Mon-
tana, Iowa, Indiana, Delaware, South
Carolina, Washington, and New York
— will be funded at $200,000 and are
targeted at individuals living in low-
income areas in the vicinity of brown-
fields sites. Most participants who suc-
cessfully complete the training
program go on to pursue careers with
environmental firms and organizations.
Since the program started in 1998, 566
trainees have been hired at an average
hourly entry-level wage of $12.12. For
more information, contact Doris
Thompson at 202-2604483.
EPA Signs Final Cleanup Plan
for Hudson River
continued from page 1
will incorporate performance standards that promote
accountability and ensure that we are protecting human
health and the environment."
A 200-mile portion of the Hudson River was declared a
federal Superfund site in 1984 because of widespread PCB
contamination over a 30-year period from two General Elec-
tric plants in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, New York. The
PCBs have bioaccumulated in fish and pose a potential risk
of cancer and other health problems for the people who eat
them. The final ROD on a plan to clean up the river was
developed after years of scientific study and with extensive
public input. Continuing discharges of PCBs into the river
from General Electric facilities remain a concern. General
Electric is expected to take actions to control a major source
of PCBs coming from its Hudson Falls plant during the
design period for EPAs cleanup plan.
The design phase of the project — expected to take
three years — will include the development of perfor-
mance standards and the siting of dewatering facilities in
consultation with a broad range of stakeholders. Two stan-
dards — for air quality and noise — are included in the
ROD, consistent with state and federal law. Enforceable
performance standards for re-suspension and production
rates during dredging will be developed in the first year of
the design phase, with input from the public, in consulta-
tion with state and federal natural resource trustees, and
subject to an independent scientific peer review. In addi-
tion, EPA will monitor PCB levels in fish and restoration of
aquatic vegetation. The standards will promote account-
ability and ensure that the cleanup meets the human and
environmental protection objectives of the ROD.
A key element of the ROD is the commitment to a rigor-
ous and meaningful community involvement program. EPA
will bring together elected officials, community groups, key
environmental organizations, and members of the public to
take a fresh look at the community involvement process.
EPA will hold a series of facilitated sessions to develop a
workable process. Jane Kenny will host public meetings in
Saratoga Springs and in Poughkeepsie to discuss the ROD
and next steps. EPA will continue to keep the public
informed throughout the project through a list server, public
meetings, fact sheets, and regular updates to the EPA Hud-
son River Web site. Copies of the final ROD and a summary
of responses to the 70,000 public comments are available at
www.epa.gov/hudson and at 16 information repositories
listed on the Web site.
cleanupnews
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Co-Located Sites in Lowell, MA Offer
Opportunity for Coordination
What happens when a brown-
fields site is located near a
Superfund site? You get a
"co-located" site and a lot of interesting
things can happen. With a pilot project
in Lowell, MA, EPA is exploring
whether facilitators can help galvanize
a community in planning for the rede-
velopment of Superfund and brown-
fields sites together.
From a holistic point of view, there
are often obvious advantages to consid-
ering co-located sites at the same time.
Until now, however, EPAs brownfields
and Superfund programs have avoided
overlap and communities have under-
stood that the government's grant
funding process keeps the programs
separate. The result has usually been
an active focus on redevelopment of
the brownfields property, while reuse
of the nearby or adjacent Superfund
site is not addressed at all.
At the Tanner Street industrial area
in Lowell, MA, EPA is aiming to
change that pattern. The project has
two broad goals:
• To demonstrate how a facilitator
can bring together community
interests in developing brownfields
and reuse of Superfund sites.
• To examine what synergies
emerge in the reuse of a Super-
fund site, and the development of a
brownfields site.
As part of the pilot project, the facil-
itator was charged with interviewing
key influential leaders, convening com-
munity groups to build a coalition for
action, facilitating a dialogue between
the groups, and identifying other
resources that could assist an emerg-
ing coalition accomplish its mission.
Lee Scharf, EPA coordinator for Alter-
native Dispute Resolution (ADR) pro-
Tanner Street, Lowell, MA
jects, noted, "This is an important
opportunity for two programs to coor-
dinate."
Facilitation has frequently been
used at both brownfields sites and
Superfund reuse sites to work with
community groups to help resolve dif-
ferences. Facilitation is often a reactive
activity, however, brought into the
redevelopment efforts to assist groups
in moving past a sticking point. Facili-
tators usually end up assisting the
community in modifying, rather than
developing, proposals. By contrast, in
Lowell, facilitators have been involved
from the beginning of the project to
identify alternative pathways that have
the greatest likelihood of success.
Tanner Street
The Tanner Street area in Lowell, MA
is an old industrial road, in the middle
of which sits the Silresim Superfund
site, considered one of the worst
Superfund sites in Massachusetts.
Listed in 1983, the Silresim site con-
sists of the original five-acre source
site that Silresim Chemical Company
occupied, and 22 acres of properties
located over a contaminated ground
water plume. Extensive removal of
stacked barrels of chemi-
cals took place shortly after
the site was listed. A tem-
porary cap is currently on
the source site. The origi-
nal remedy proposed to
treat the ground water
plume with a soil vapor
extraction system to pull
back the volatile organic
compounds in the plume.
This treatment has not worked, and, in
the meanwhile, the plume has
expanded. Extraction wells recently
installed at the leading edge of the
plume are expected to halt the
progress of the plume while EPA sorts
through the best approach to cleanup.
Ground water treatment is likely to be
underway on the site for a number of
years. The final cap on the land area
may not be installed for another three
to five years.
The remainder of Tanner Street
consists of industrial lands — brown-
fields sites — that the city of Lowell
considers underutilized. This is the
last property in the city zoned for
heavy industrial use, and it is occupied
by a number of small businesses, some
of which are heavy polluters. The City
has a tax title interest in several Tanner
Street properties. Some of the busi-
nesses on Tanner Street have been
there for some time, including a 127-
year old iron and steel fabrication facil-
ity, several smaller holdings associated
with auto repair, and several junk deal-
ers. Tanner Street is directly adjacent
to a major transportation artery (the
Lowell Connector) with good access
and egress. The Tanner Street indus-
trial area also directly abuts a moderate
to low income residential neighbor-
continued on page 7
cleanupnews
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First Circuit Rules on
Liability of Parent
Corporation for
Contamination
Caused by Subsidiary
in U.S. v. Kayser-Roth
On December 3,2001, the United
States Court of Appeals for the
First Circuit issued a favorable
decision affirming a district court's rul-
ing that Kayser-Roth Corporation not
be allowed to have a 1990 judgment of
liability under CERCLA vacated.
The First Circuit ruled that Kayser
remained liable as a direct operator
under CERCLA section 107 (a) for
environmental contamination caused
by a subsidiary corporation, despite a
change in the law of CERCLA liability
for parent corporations since the 1990
judgment. In 1990, Kayser was found
directly liable as an operator under
CERCLA section 107(a) for CERCLA
response costs required to remediate
a site in North Smithfield, Rhode
Island, which had been contaminated
with hazardous wastes by a subsidiary
corporation of Kayser. In 1990, a dis-
trict court had determined that Kayser
was liable as an operator under CER-
CLA section 107 (a) because it exer-
cised pervasive control over its sub-
sidiary and because Kayser had the
ability to control the release of haz-
ardous wastes by its subsidiary.
Kayser sought to have the 1990
judgment of liability vacated under
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
60 (b). Kayser argued that a 1998
Supreme Court case, United States v.
Bestfoods, 524 U.S. 51 (1998), estab-
lished the standard for direct operator
liability under CERCLA of parent cor-
porations alleged to be responsible for
environmental contamination caused
by subsidiary corporations, and that
the 1990 judgement was not in accord
with the standard required by Best-
foods. The district court ruled that
Kayser"s liability was not affected by
the Bestfoods decision and Kayser
appealed to the First Circuit.
The First Circuit held that Kayser's
exercise of control over its sub-
sidiary's environmental operations
and the ability of Kayser to control the
release of hazardous wastes by its sub-
sidiary did satisfy the Bestfoods stan-
dard for direct operator liability of a
parent corporation under CERCLA
section 107 (a) for a subsidiary corpo-
ration's environmental contamination.
For more information, contact
Clarence Featherson, 202-564-4234.
[U.S. v. Kayser-Roth Corp. 2001 WL
1504690 (1st Cir. Dec. 3, 2001)]
District Court Awards
U.S. $23 Million in
Response Costs for
Krejci Dump Site
After finding Minnesota Mining and
Manufacturing (3M) joint and sever-
ally liable in a previous decision
(United States v. Chrysler, 2001 WL
1025335 (N.D. Ohio)), the district
court granted the United States'
motion for partial summary judgment
as to response costs incurred at the
Krejci Dump site.
3M argued that the United States
had failed to adequately document its
costs and therefore, the United States
was inconsistent with the National
Contingency Plan (NCP). The court
disagreed, and found that the NCP
does not contain any specific stan-
dards concerning the documentation
of costs. Rather, all the NCP requires
is that the United States provide suffi-
cient documentation that renders an
accurate accounting of costs incurred
by the federal government. The court
found that contractor invoices, Project
Officer invoice approvals, and proof of
payment by EPA were sufficient to
support costs incurred at the site. The
court also noted that the United States
was entitled to its annual allocation
costs as 3M had failed to identify any
provision of the NCP that EPA's
annual allocation methodology vio-
lated. The court reserved judgment
on roughly $1 million in costs due to
apparent mathematical errors and the
failure of the United States to provide
the court with the applicable indirect
cost rate. The court has scheduled a
bench trial to address these outstand-
ing costs. For more information, con-
tact David Dowton at 202-564-4228.
[United States v. Chrysler, 2001 WL
1181135 (N.D. Ohio)]
V-1 Oil Settlement
On November 28,2001, the U.S. District
Court for the District of Idaho entered
as a final judgment a consent decree
that incorporates a $1.2 million settle-
ment between the United States and
V-1 Oil Company. The settlement had
been reached to resolve a civil action
brought by the Department of Justice
on behalf of EPA and the Coast Guard
against V-1 Oil Company concerning an
underground leak of gasoline from its
gas station in Preston, Idaho in 1996.
The case is the first in which EPA has
obtained a penalty for violation of an oil
cleanup order issued under section 311
of the Clean Water Act.
The leak from the gas station led to
local ground water contamination,
dangerous fumes in neighborhood
home basements, and potentially
explosive levels in sewer lines. When
V-1 Oil was identified as the source of
the leak, the company denied respon-
sibility and denied access to EPA,
state, and local investigators. With the
company later refusing to comply with
a subsequent EPA cleanup order, EPA
conducted a two-phase removal action
at the site. During the action, EPA
removed hundreds of gallons of gaso-
line from groundwater and about 200
cubic yards of contaminated soil.
cleanupnews
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The suit was brought to recover
penalties for violation of the adminis-
trative cleanup order, which was
issued by EPA under authority of both
CWA section 311 and RCRA section
7003, and to recover funds expended
by the government for the site
cleanup. The $1.2 million settlement
includes a $478,000 penalty for V-l
Oil's refusal to comply with the
cleanup order (50% of which will go to
the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for
the CWA section 311 order violation
and 50% of which will go to the General
Treasury for the RCRA section 7003
order violation), and $722,000 to
recover costs expended for the
cleanup (which will also go to the Oil
Spill Liability Trust Fund).
A consent decree incorporating
the settlement was lodged with the
court on May 2, 2001. A notice of the
settlement was published in the Fed-
eral Register on May 23, 2001, giving
the public 30 days to comment. The
only public comment received, from
an attorney in Preston, Idaho,
appeared to approve of the terms of
the settlement but expressed concern
that the amounts recovered would
not be used to fund additional cleanup
activities in the town. The commenter
also suggested that notice of the set-
tlement provided was inadequate
because it was published only in the
Federal Register. The United States'
November 6, 2001, motion to enter
the proposed consent decree
addressed both of the commenter's
concerns, and the court found that
the consent decree incorporating the
settlement was fair, reasonable, ade-
quate, and consistent with the goals
of the Oil Pollution Act, CWA, and
RCRA For more information, con-
tact: Keith Cohon, EPA Region 10,
206-553-2149; Bob Kenney,
EPA/OSRE, 202-564-5127; or Mary
Andrews, EPA/ORE, 202-564-4011.
Private Lawsuits:
> Crofton Ventures Ltd. Partner-
ship v. G & H Partnership, 258
F.3rd (4th Cir. 2001): The current
landowner brought a contribution action
under CERCLA section 113(f), against former
owners and operators to recover CERCLA
response costs incurred in cleaning up a
contaminated site and state common law
claims for fraudulent misrepresentation and
breach of contract. The district court entered
judgment in favor of former owner and oper-
ators on the common law claims and the
CERCLA contribution claim. The district court
held that the present owner failed to prove
that the former owners and operators actu-
ally dumped hazardous substances or had
knowledge of dumping or leaking during
their ownership or operation of site.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district
court's ruling on the common law claims but
vacated and remanded the district court's rul-
ing on the issue of liability. Consistent with the
Fourth Circuit's opinion in Nurad, Inc. v.
Hooper& Sons, 966 F. 2d 837 (4th Cir. 1992)
(CERCLA liability imposed for passive migra-
tion), the Fourth Circuit held that a former
owner or former operator is liable under
CERCLA for response costs incurred in
cleaning up hazardous waste at a site, if
hazardous substances were either placed on
site or leaked into the environment from a
source on site (liability for disposal under
CERCLA encompasses passive migration),
whether or not the former owner or former
operator was the cause of disposal or even
had knowledge of the disposal.
For more information, contact Clarence
Featherson at 202-564-4234.
> Aviall Services, Inc. v. Cooper
Industries, 263 F.3d 134 (5th Cir.
Aug. 14. 2001): On August 14, 2001, a
panel of the Fifth Circuit in a 2-1 decision
ruled (over a vehement dissent), that a per-
son responding to a contaminated site has
no right of contribution against liable parties
for its response costs under CERCLA unless
that responding person is already the sub-
ject of an action under CERCLA section 106
or 107. In this case, Aviall Services, Inc. dis-
covered contamination at industrial facilities
the company had purchased from Cooper
Industries, Inc. Aviall notified the Texas Nat-
ural Resource Conservation Commission,
and conducted a decade-long cleanup cost-
ing millions of dollars. Aviall sought contri-
bution from Cooper under CERCLA section
113 and state law. The district court dis-
missed Aviall's CERCLA claim and declined
to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over
the slate law claims. A panel of the 5th Cir-
cuit affirmed the district court's ruling. Aviall
subsequently filed a petition for rehearing
en bane, which was granted by the Fifth Cir-
cuit.
For more information, contact Clarence
Featherson at 202-564-4234.
> The Port of Redwood City v. Gib-
son Environmental, Inc., No. C98-
3501 TEH (N.D. Ca. Nov. 27,
2001): The Port of Redwood City brought
a CERCLA contribution action against sev-
eral parties, including the United States. The
government filed a motion for summary
judgment (as did other parties) requesting
that the district court dismiss the Port's
action. The court granted the government's
request, holding that the Port had not fol-
lowed the NCP when it cleaned up the site.
The Port claimed its response action was
a "removal" under CERCLA while the gov-
ernment claimed it was a "remedial" action
(thus requiring a more rigorous decision and
public notification process). In deciding that
the Port's action were "remedial," the court
looked at the complexity, cost, and duration
of the operation. The Port's cleanup was over
$10 million, the investigation and response
actions are expected to take over six years to
complete, and the cleanup operation
involved removal of numerous tanks as well
as soil and ground water remediation. (In a
footnote, the district court declined to follow
Aviall Services, Inc. v. Cooper Industries, Inc.
(see above — no right of contribution unless
plaintiff's response action was subject to a
section 106 or 107 action.))
> Kalamazoo River Study Group v.
Rockwell International Corp., 2001
WL 1602705 (6th Cir. Dec. 18,
2001): The Kalamazoo River Study Group
brought a CERCLA contribution action
against Rockwell. The appellate court
upheld the district court's ruling that Rock-
well had contributed only minuscule
amounts of PCBs (20 Ibs) into the Kalama-
zoo River when compared to the Group's
contribution of 100,000 Ibs and that Rock-
well should receive a zero allocation of
response costs.
cleanupnews
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Brownfields
Legislation
continued from page 1
brownfields tarnish the landscapes of
communities across America, typically
in urban areas.
The new brownfields law reforms
one of the major hindrances to
brownfields cleanup — liability provi-
sions under the federal Superfund
law. The new law provides liability
protection for prospective pur-
chasers, contiguous property own-
ers, and innocent landowners. It also
authorizes increased funding for
state and local programs that assess
and clean up brownfields, and relief
from Superfund liability for small
business owners.
In his remarks, the President noted
that the Millennium Corporate Center,
where the signing was taking place,
had been the site of a steel foundry
that sat in disrepair for years until the
county began to redevelop it with a
grant from EPA. The 1,000th site rede-
veloped under Pennsylvania's Land
New Brownfields Legislation Highlights
Here are highlights of Public Law 107-118, the Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act:
Small Business Liability Relief (Title I)
• Exempts certain small volume contributors from Superfund liability
• Exempts certain contributors of municipal solid waste from Superfund liability
• Shifts court costs and attorneys fees to a private party if a private party loses a Super-
fund contribution action against de micromis or municipal solid waste exempt party
Brownfields Program (Title II - Subtitle A)
• Provides legislative authority for brownfields program including grants for assess-
ment and cleanup
• Expands current brownfields program by increasing funding authority up to $200
million per year including up to $50 million per year to assess and cleanup brown-
fields with petroleum contamination
• Expands eligibility for assessment and cleanup grants
• New provision for direct cleanup grants of up to $200,000 per site
• Streamlines current requirements for the brownfields cleanup revolving loan fund
and makes funding available to nonprofits
• Applies Davis Bacon Act on same terms as authority for current program
• Makes funds available for technical assistance, training, and research
Brownfields Liability Clarifications (Title II - Subtitle B)
• Exempts certain contiguous property owners from Superfund liability
• Exempts certain prospective purchasers from Superfund liability
• Clarifies the innocent landholders defense to Superfund liability
State Response Programs (Title II - Subtitle C)
• Supports state and tribal response programs and preserves federal safety net
• Provides $50 million per year for state and tribal response programs
• Expands activities available for funding of state programs
• Provides Superfund liability relief for certain properties cleaned up under state
response programs
Recycling Program, the Center is built
on the former site of the Schuylkill
Iron Works, and, when completed, it
will be the centerpiece of a 40-acre,
$115 million office, recreation, and res-
idential development. More than 500
people already work at the new devel-
opment.
President Bush said, "As the
employees here know, when a busi-
ness develops a brownfield, it turns a
stagnant plot of land into a productive
neighborhood. What we ought to be
asking in America is, what does it take
to create more jobs? ... Public policy
ought to figure out ways to make sure
that the entrepreneurs can succeed, so
that there is job creation taking place
all over the country. This is a good jobs
creation bill.
"Further benefit will come as busi-
nesses recycle older properties and
spare surrounding lands from devel-
opment. There has been a lot of talk
about urban sprawl. Well, one of the
best ways to arrest urban sprawl is to
develop brownfields, and make them
productive pieces of land, where peo-
ple can find work and employment. By
one estimate, for every acre of rede-
veloped brownfields, we save four and
a half acres of open space.
'This legislation will also protect
small business owners from unwar-
ranted Superfund liability. Lawyers
and governments used to tell small
business owners that because they
sent their trash to a landfill — and
because that landfill became contami-
nated — they were potentially liable
for cleaning up the entire site.
"When government acts in such a
heavy-handed way, it hurts a lot of peo-
ple, and works against its own pur-
poses. It discourages small business
growth. With this bill, we are return-
ing common sense to our cleanup pro-
gram. We will protect innocent small
business owners and employees from
continued on page 7
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Brownfields
Legislation
continued from page 6
unfair lawsuits, and focus our efforts
instead on actually cleaning up conta-
minated sites."
EPA Administrator Christine Todd
Whitman noted, "With this new law,
we are better able to undo the errors
of the past and replace them with envi-
ronmental partnerships that engage
the imagination of the American peo-
ple. Together, we will clean up brown-
fields and provide a greener and
healthier future for our children and
grandchildren." Whitman expects that
the new law will help reduce litigation
as well as removing barriers to rede-
velopment, by differentiating between
large contributors of toxic waste and
small businesses who disposed of only
small amounts of waste or ordinary
trash, and should not be considered
responsible parties.
At the signing, President Bush
also announced that his FY 2003 bud-
get will double the funds available
through EPA in FY 2002 — from $98
million to $200 million — to help
states and communities around the
country clean up and revitalize
brownfields sites. Another $25 mil-
lion in funding is included in the bud-
get for urban redevelopment and
brownfields cleanup through the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development. The proposed FY 2003
budget would permanently extend
the Brownfields Tax Incentive.
According to government estimates,
the $300 million annual investment in
the Brownfields Tax Incentive will
leverage approximately $3.4 billion in
private investment and return 8,000
brownfields to productive use.
For more information, contact KC
Schefski at 202-564-8213 or Matt
Sander at 202-564-7233.
Tanner Street
Lowell, MA
continued from page 3
hood, and backs onto a creek that
feeds into the Concord River.
In a series of interviews with local
government officials, business owners
on Tanner Street, residents of the sur-
rounding neighborhood, and local and
regional lenders, a number of views
and concerns emerged. First, there
was widespread support for Tanner
Street remaining an industrial area
and interest on the part of some local
businesses in participating in reuse
efforts. Based on this initial assess-
ment, a strategy was developed for a
facilitated effort that included creation
of an advisory committee, outreach to
the banking community and sur-
rounding neighborhoods, continuing
outreach to business owners on Tan-
ner Street, and development of a
widely accepted master plan for all of
Tanner Street.
Since April 2001, the city of Lowell
has been meeting with the Citizen
Advisory Board. With the help of a
visioning exercise of what the resi-
dents and industrial owners on Tanner
Street wanted the street to become,
the group collectively envisioned an
industrial use area with some recre-
ational uses and amenities (such as
trails), repair of the street and side-
walks, and screening of the messier
industrial areas from view. This vision
has been incorporated into the plan
prepared by the Superfund reuse plan-
ner for all of Tanner Street, not just the
Silresim site. Reaction from the com-
munity has been generally very posi-
tive. The next step will be to present
the plan to the City Council. Mean-
while, a participatory evaluation is
underway. Lee Scharf points out that
the citizens will be highly involved in
the ongoing evaluation of the project.
'The citizens will create measures of
success, they'll check in the middle on
where things stand, and evaluate the
effort at the end," she said.
While it's too soon to call it a suc-
cess, the elements for success seem to
be in place. The city envisions a public-
private partnership, and expects a lot
of support from industry in the area.
An ongoing steering committee is
under development to guide the imple-
mentation of the plan. In retrospect,
most participants agree, there would
have been no way to address the
brownfields problem effectively with-
out considering the Superfund site, or
addressing the Superfund site without
looking at the whole street.
For more information, contact Lee
Scharf, EPA, at 202-564-5143, or Brian
Conners, Lowell Dept. of Planning and
Development, at 978-970-4276.
cleanupnews
-------
March 19-20,2002
4th Biennial Freshwater Spill
Symposium
Cleveland, OH
Beatriz Oliveira, 703-603-1229,
oliveira.beatriz@epa.gov
March 10-13,2002
14th Annual UST/LUST National
Conference
Kissimmee, FL
Sammy Ng, 703-603-7166,
ng. sammy@epa.gov
June 25-28, 2002
National Community Involvement
Conference
Portland, OR
Helen DuTeau, 703-603-8761,
duteau.helen@epa.gov
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