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September 5, 2008
Report Cites Benefits of Government Investment in
Brownfields
From
the National Brownfields Association September
newsletter and the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA)
Daily Environment Report: Every dollar of
public investment in brownfields leverages eight
dollars from other sources, and every acre of
redeveloped brownfields conserves about 4.5 acres of
undeveloped land, according to a draft report issued
by the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
Congress is likely to consider legislation in its next
session that would increase authorized funding for the
EPA brownfields program and create a new tax credit
for spending on brownfields redevelopment. The
Environmental and Economic Impacts of Brownfields
Redevelopment, prepared by Northeast-Midwest
Institute Senior Policy Analyst Evans Paull, analyzes
the impact of both types of subsidy by reviewing
several years of literature and reports on brownfields
redevelopment. Paull told BNA that while the data is
insufficient to draw precise conclusions, “clearly
most sites, possibly as much as 80 percent, require
some level of public subsidy in order to proceed to
successful development.”
To
see the complete Northeast-Midwest Institute report,
go to
http://nemw.org/EnvironEconImpactsBFRedev.pdf
August 27, 2008
North Carolina Brownfields Program
The North
Carolina Brownfields Program, the North Carolina Rural
Center, and the U.S. EPA, have completed two workshops
regarding brownfield grant opportunities for NC
municipalities. Held in Valdese and Rocky Mount, NC,
these workshops presented "Exploring Local
Government Grant Opportunities for Redeveloping
Brownfields". See
www.ncbrownfields.org for more details and
follow-up postings by the agency of the contents.
August 26, 2008
New
City of Charlotte Well Rules
Mecklenburg County
has amended previous regulations to increase the
tracking on monitoring wells. The new health
regulations and groundwater program will be fee-funded
and registration of monitoring wells is required. To access this page,
click here.
June 25, 2008
Excellent Website with info on Dense Nonaqueous
Phase Liquids (DNAPL)
Click here for
information from EPA's CLU-IN website regarding
contaminants, toxicology, detection, site
characterization, and more.
June 19, 2008
New California Guidance on Environmental Impacts
and Mitigation
On June 19, 2008, the California Governor's Office
of Planning and Research released a Technical Advisory
explaining how impacts and mitigation measures from
climate change and "greenhouse gas" emissions should
be addressed in environmental impact reports prepared
for residential, commercial and industrial development
and other projects under the California Environmental
Quality Act. This guidance will likely influence
environmental impact analyses prepared under the
National Environmental Policy Act and similar state
statutes.
June 4, 2008 NC DENR Migration of Sites to
Inactive Sites Branch The NC DENR continues to
request responsible parties formerly regulated by the
Division of Water Quality submit a Site Cleanup
Questionnaire to the Division of Waste Management,
Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch, and volunteer for the
Registered Environmental Consultant Program. If
the RP declines to enter the REC program, NC DENR
indicates the site will be ranked and placed on the
state priority list. Only those sites with a
high priority ranking (such as impacted drinking water
wells) will be regulated under the direct oversight of
DENR. Sites not under direct DENR oversight nor
in the REC program will not be under any state
approvable regulatory oversight. |