Buffalo-Niagara Region: Policies

OHIO

Clean Ohio Fund. On November 4, 2008, Ohio voters will have the opportunity to expand the Clean Ohio Fund. Highlights: plan is to sell $400 million in bonds ($200 million of which will be allocated for brownfield development and $200 million for greenspace and farmland development).
SB 221. In April, the Ohio state legislature approved the governor’s comprehensive energy bill, which includes provisions for renewable energy standards for utilities, and sets state standards electricity prices and electricity sources. It’s a whopper of a bill for this state and opens the door on the renewable side for lots of creative energy projects involving brownfields.

NEW YORK

Amendment to NY Brownfield Cleanup Act. Signed June 25, 2008, the amendment changes a number of elements of the program including, most significantly, modifications to the tax credits available for qualifying sites. Also included are tax credits for cleanups, which prior to the amendment ranged from 10-22%, but under the new law will range from 22-50% depending on the cleanup levels achieved and the proposed end-use of the site. Tax credits, which had previously been unlimited, have also been affected by the amendment. Now, tax credits and development expenses will be capped at three times the amount of cleanup costs or $35 million, whichever is less. For industrial sites, the cap is set at the lesser of six times the cleanup costs or $45 million.

PENNSYLVANIA

SB 1062 Brownfield Redevelopment Act (Pennsylvania SB 1062). Seeks to provide relief to developers of brownfield sites through the creation of the Brownfield Redevelopment Fund, reimbursing up to 75% of remediation costs. An authorized reimbursement would continue until the dollar amount established in the Redevelopment Agreement has been reached. State tax revenues generated by new redeveopment would support the Brownfield Site Reimbursement Fund; therefore, if a project does not generate new taxes, there is no reimbursement for the project.

ONTARIO PROVINCE (Canada)

The Ministry of the Environment hosted four multi-sector workshop sessions on brownfield reform in June and July 2008. These sessions assisted in the drafting of implementing regulatory amendments (O. Reg. 153/04) related to the off-site liability, updated standards, Tier 2 streamlined risk assessment, and review process reforms passed as part of the 2007 budget.
On March 23, 2007, the Ministry of the Environment initiated a 60-day public consultation on a proposal to update the brownfield soil and groundwater standards. The Ministry has been working with stakeholders to address issues raised since the proposed standards were released last spring.
Reducing liability barriers: The Ontario government recently passed legislation to encourage more interest and participation in brownfield redevelopment from municipalities and the private sector. The new legislation protects developers from provincial cleanup orders in cases where contaminants migrate from a property. This would apply once cleanup documentation is filed, as long as the migration does not exceed defined environmental standards and the developers did not cause the contamination. Consultants doing cleanup work are also protected from provincial cleanup orders. (source: Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing)
Municipalities are key partners: Under new legislation, municipalities are protected from civil lawsuits relating to planning approval and building permit decisions, where the lawsuits solely arise from inaccuracies in filed cleanup documentation. (source: Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing)
Amendment to O.Reg. 153/04: Certification of Qualified Persons (source: Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing): This change affects only those individuals who supervise or conduct environmental site assessments associated with a Record of Site Condition (RSC) and who make certifications in a RSC filed to the Brownfields Environmental Site Registry.
As of April 1, 2008, persons holding limited licences with the Professional Engineers of Ontario and limited membership with the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario are prescribed as qualified persons.
Until September 30, 2009, all persons who are currently recognized as qualified persons can continue to act in this capacity, i.e., to supervise or conduct environmental site assessments supporting records of site condition and make certifications in RSCs.
As of October 1, 2009, qualified persons are defined as people licenced under the Professional Engineers Act or the Professional Geoscientists Act, 2000, including limited licences and limited members.

Copyright 2011 DaVinci Graphics, Inc.
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or any part without the expressed written permission of the publisher is prohibited. ISSN 1947-5594 and ISSN 1947-5608. Downloading and/or printing this article constitutes you agreement to the terms and conditions of service.