J.R. Capasso, CPG, Brownfields Coordinator, City of Trenton, N.J.
Capasso manages Brownfields remediation and redevelopment projects, technical and regulatory compliance, community outreach, and state and Federal grant and loan programs for numerous sites in the City of Trenton. Brownfields sites in Trenton have been redeveloped for open space, residential, industrial, commercial, public and mixed uses. The City of Trenton has won five prestigious Phoenix Awards for brownfields redevelopment since 1999. He currently works with several private, state and Federal groups on brownfields issues including the Brownfields Coalition, the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals and Brownfield Communities Network (NALGEP/BCN), the Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC), the US-German Bilateral Working Group (through the EPA’s Office of Research & Development), the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice and New Jersey’s Office of Brownfields Reuse. The duties of Brownfields Coordinator in the City of Trenton have included building capacity in the brownfields program and conducting community outreach through various committees and groups. Prior to becoming the Brownfields Coordinator for the City of Trenton, New Jersey in 2002, Mr. Capasso worked for 15 years as a Technical Resource Manager, Senior Project Manager and Senior Geologist in environmental consulting and in the mining/land development industries. He holds a B.S. in Geology from Stockton College of New Jersey and an M.S. in Geology from the University of Delaware.

Gary O’Connor, partner, Pepe & Hazard law firm, Waterbury, Conn.
O’Connor served as co-chairman of a brownfields task force in Connecticut and said that when it came to setting up a revolving loan fund to be administered by the DECD, the resistance from the state budget office was fierce. “We worked the legislature hard, and they did too,” he says. “This was several years ago, before states were facing these huge budget deficits, and we couldn’t understand it.” As of March 2010, the state had distributed only $4.5 million in brownfield cleanup grants since 2006, while the task force originally recommended $16 million in funding. During the past three years, O’Connor says, approximately $36 million has gone to Connecticut brownfield projects through various state and federal programs, but the task force’s original proposal had requested a commitment of $200 million in state brownfield program funding to be spent over six years. “That’s a step in the right direction, but we’d like to see an annual total of $75 to $100 million,” he says. (The good news in Connecticut is that Gov. Jodi Rell in July signed two bills designed to expand the state’s brownfields development program that will provide greater opportunities for regional project development, establishing new sources of funding and offering tax incentives as long as developers adhere to a state-approved remediation plan.)

Roger Hathaway, P.E., vice president and Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) practice leader, GEI Consultants Inc.
Working out of the Hartford, Conn. office, Hathaway has spent more than 20 years in the field of environmental remediation with a primary focus on compliance management programs. He was selected as one of six new GEI vice presidents in June. Hathaway specializes in the management of MGP site remediation programs, urban property remediation, urban waterways, regulatory negotiations, and stakeholder communications. In addition, he has been heavily involved in the community outreach and communications coordination for two utilities in New York State. Responsibilities for this project include developing communication strategies, regulatory negotiations and the management of MGP remediation in a complex political environment. A registered professional engineer, Hathaway has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Graham Stevens, Brownfields Coordinator for the Connecticut Dept. of Environmental Protection
Graham Stevens has been working on brownfield redevelopment projects at DEP since the late 1990s. Early in his career he worked in Connecticut’s first brownfields program–the Urban Sites Remedial Action Program, a program that saw many successes but after many years required a fresh look. Beginning in 2005, Connecticut initiated a series of changes to their cleanup programs to streamline brownfield redevelopment. Legislative changes have brought about third-party liability relief, protections for municipalities that play an active role in assessing and redeveloping their brownfields. This is an early opportunity to obtain a Covenant Not to Sue from the state once an investigation plan and remedial schedule is developed, and a new Abandoned Brownfields Cleanup program that limits off-site cleanup obligations for “White Knight” redevelopers. As Connecticut’s Brownfields Coordinator since 2007, Stevens has been working with federal and state partners, developers and municipalities to advance brownfield redevelopment in Connecticut, a small state with many redevelopment opportunities. “One of my goals is to make sure the public and those in government understand that we can’t preserve our beautiful landscape without revitalizing our Brownfields. While protecting open space garners much support, it is but one side of the coin. Growth will continue and we must do what we can to open the doors for development at Brownfields.”

As Commissioner Amey W. Marrella’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Stevens is also working on streamlining and improving the permitting programs at DEP and on other process improvements that continue to improve the accessibility of DEP’s regulatory programs to brownfield redevelopers, municipalities and other agencies. Stevens earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Geography from Clark University in Worcester, Mass. and is currently a candidate for a Master of Science degree in Hydrogeology from the University of Connecticut in Storrs.

Susan Boyle, senior manager and program developer at GEI Consultants, Mt. Laurel, N.J.
Boyle leads the firm’s brownfield and sustainability practice for GEI, which has been busy assisting the Technical Assistance for Brownfields Program for USEPA Regions 1, 2 and 3 that is run out of NJIT. As a founding member of the Northeast Sustainable Communities Workshop, which was held in June at NJIT, and the newly-formed Brownfield Coalition of the Northeast, Boyle spent the spring fostering regional collaboration with colleagues from CT, DE, MA, NJ, NY, PA. In New Jersey, Boyle said GEI is “glad to see some thaw in the brownfields market with new work being generated in part due to the impact of federal stimulus funds.” In addition to brownfield and sustainability efforts, GEI has been guiding clients and colleagues coming to grips with the “sea changes” resulting from N.J. Site Remediation Reform Act and new LSRP program; throughout 2010, GEI has shared its personnel’s experiences as licensed professionals in CT and MA with NJ audiences.