Funds help protect health and the environment; Revitalize communities

BOSTON – EPA has awarded $15,994,000 in Brownfield grants to municipalities and organizations working in all six New England states to protect people’s health by assessing and cleaning up contaminated parcels in New England communities.

The grants, funded by EPA’s Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup grant program, provide communities with the funding they need to assess, clean up and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment.

In the six New England states, EPA is awarding 38 separate grants to 35 different organizations. The funding is part of $55.2 million in EPA Brownfields investments awarded across the country this year.

“EPA’s Brownfields program has helped assess abandoned or derelict properties in communities across the region, cleaning them so they can return to productive use,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “When we put a dollar into brownfields, the community gets back $17 in the jobs and economic opportunities. Cleaning and revitalizing contaminated sites not only makes our communities cleaner, it also makes economic sense.”

In New England, since the beginning of the Brownfields program, EPA has awarded 374 assessment grants totaling $99.1 million, 73 revolving loan fund grants and supplemental funding totaling $90 million and 261 cleanup grants totaling $66.7 million. These grant funds have paved the way for more than $1.4 billion in public and private cleanup and redevelopment investment and for nearly 8,859 jobs in assessment, cleanup, construction and redevelopment. These investments and jobs target local, under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods – places where environmental cleanups and new jobs are most needed.

In New England, the following Brownfields grants are being awarded this year:

Connecticut – $1,184,000

• City of Shelton, $200,000 (cleanup)
  
• Northwest Regional WIB, $100,000 (job training)
  
• Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. $400,000 (assessment)
  
• City of Norwich, $384,000 (assessment)
  

Maine - $7,340,000

• Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission, $820.000 (revolving loan fund for Prime Tanning)
  
• Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission, $200,000 (assessment for Prime Tanning)
  
• Town of Berwick, $500,000 (cleanup for Prime Tanning)
  
• Marble Block Redevelopment Corp., $200,000 (assessment for Prime Tanning)
  
• Greater Portland Council of Governments, $400,000 (assessment)
  
• City of Portland. $800,000 (revolving loan fund)
  
• Town of Lisbon, $200,000 (assessment)
  
• City of Gardiner, $200,000 (assessment)
  
• City of Gardiner $200,000 (cleanup)
  
• Town of Wilton, $200,000 (cleanup)
  
• Midcoast Economic Development District, $820,.000 (revolving loan fund)
  
• City of Belfast, $400,000 (assessment)
  
• City of Old Town, $400,000 (assessment)
  
• Eastern Maine Development Corp., $400,000 (assessment)
  
• Hancock County Planning Commission, $400,000 (assessment)
  
• Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, $400,000 (assessment)
  
• Northern Maine Development Commission, $200,000 (assessment)
  
• Washington County Council of Governments, $400,000 (assessment)
  

Massachusetts – 4,650,000

• Greylock Flume Inc., $200,000 (cleanup of Area-wide Planning Study Area In Adams)
  
• City of Adams, $400,000 (assessment for AWP Study Area)
  
• City of Chicopee, $600,000 (cleanup of AWP Study Area)
  
• Town of Lee, $300,000 (assessment of AWP Study Area)
  
• Town of Plymouth, $600,000. Cleanup of Revere Copper)
  
• Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, $400,000 (assessment)
  
• City of Everett, $200,000 (assessment)
  
• City of Gardner, $600,000 (cleanup of Garbose Metals)
  
• Town of Merrimack, $530,000 (cleanup of Coastal Metals)
  
• Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, $820,000 (revolving loan fund for Coastal Metals)
  

New Hampshire - $800,000

• Upper Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission, $400,000 (assessment)
  
• Lakes Region Planning Commission, $400,000 (assessment)
  

Rhode Island - $1,220,000

• RI Department of Environmental Management, $400,000 (assessment for Providence)
  
• RI Infrastructure Bank, $820,000 (revolving loan fund for Providence)
  

Vermont - $800,000

• Windham Regional Commission, $400,000 (assessment for Making a Visible Difference in Brattleboro)
  
• Chittendon Country Regional Planning Commission, $400,000 (assessment for Burlington)
  

More information:
-    Brownfields grants by state: http://cfpub.epa.gov/bf_factsheets/
-    National EPA Brownfields info: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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By Kathleen Schassler, Middletown Press CT)

An indoor farmers market, skating rink and potential brook-side trail between the Connecticut River and Wesleyan University’s campus were all ideas suggested during two bus tours Saturday of area brownfields. 

More than three-fourths of city residents do not use the parks for recreation, according to a recent survey by Middletown on the Move, a grant-funded program. Citing a lack of quality amenities as a reason, just 23 percent of people say they use city parks, according to Patrice Barrett, the city’s brownfield community outreach coordinator.

The Middletown on the Move initiative, to study the use of brownfield sites for public recreation, is paid by a $143,970 grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was awarded last year through a CDC division focused on effects of hazardous substances in the environment.

…

For the entire article, see

http://www.middletownpress.com/article/MI/20160516/NEWS/160519708

by Solar Industry

New Jersey-based utility Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) has filed a request with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) to extend its Solar 4 All program.

If approved, the extension would allow PSE&G to invest approximately $275 million to design and construct 10 more grid-connected projects totaling 100 MW on landfills and brownfields in its electric service territory by the end of 2021.

Solar 4 All is a 125 MW universal solar program that utilizes rooftops, parking lots, utility poles and landfills/brownfields for large-scale, grid-connected solar projects. The NJBPU initially approved the program in 2009 for 80 MW and extended it in 2013 for an additional 45 MW of solar capacity. The program currently has 115 MW in service through 174,000 pole-attached solar units and 28 centralized solar projects. The remaining 10 MW of the currently approved 125 MW total will be in service by the end of 2016.
…

For the entire article, see
http://solarindustrymag.com/pseg-seeks-regulatory-approval-for-more-landfillbrownfield-solar

Associate needed for growing boutique environmental law firm focused on site remediation and brownfields redevelopment located in Passaic County (impending move to Union County). The ideal candidate should have two to five years’ experience and be a highly motivated self-starter who works well independently and as a dynamic team player. Superior writing and oral communication, analytical skills and a strong academic record are essential. The successful candidate should also possess exceptional organizational skills (to effectively organize, track and manage client work), be detail oriented and self-motivated with a strong demand for excellent work product. Unique potential for equity compensation for entrepreneurial candidate. 

NJ Bar Admission required. Salary is commensurate with experience, health benefits and (other benefits) 401K offered. Please send resume to brtwcm@gmail.com Location: Passaic County, NJ

• Compensation: Negotiable
  
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster. br>
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
  

Hannah Moore of NYC OER and Regional Council member of the Brownfield Coalition of the Northeast (BCONE) brought a recent report by Arcadis to our attention.  It includes an “Urban Land Restoration Index” comparing cost of cleanup in cities vs. opportunities in those cities.  NYC #1.

Click here to read the report.

Photo Caption: On the left, BCONE Regional Council member Hannah Moore at the 2016 Big Apple Brownfield Awards. 

This from our friends at Brownfield Listings and their recent spring Newsletter, who called NSCW 2016 a  “high impact day”:

“Spring is upon us, the housing market is thawing and the development season is cranking up in markets across North America…  Spring also opens up the conference season. To kick things off, the Brownfield Coalition of the Northeast (BCONE) held another excellent and engaging workshop.  This year’s theme was "Imagination and Creativity in Urban Change for the NJ/NY/CT/PA Metropolitan Area,” drew 200 municipal officials, planners, developers, attorneys and environmental advocates to the New Jersey Institute of Technology for an interactive series of panels, talks and discussions.” 

By Hugh Bailey, Connecticut Post

If the location is right, pollution is no obstacle.

For some of the former industrial properties known as brownfields, new owners are willing to pay exorbitant cleanup costs to reuse the land. Elsewhere, when the payoff isn’t quite so clear, governments can work with developers on the piecemeal assemblage of a cleanup plan, which can take years to develop.

For some sites, even that much is impossible. In the wrong location, with expensive contamination and a bleak outlook, some properties will simply sit, year after year, decade after decade, as a building’s physical deterioration brings down a neighborhood and any hope of an economic rebound.

A new nonprofit enabled by legislation pending before the General Assembly is aimed at helping those properties that might otherwise be a lost cause.

…

For the entire article, see

http://www.ctpost.com/business/article/Land-bank-offers-new-hope-for-polluted-properties-7303681.php

By Andrew J. Sheaves, Buffalo News (NY)

The supervisor of the Town of Amherst has decided not to pursue his prior plan to acquire Glen Oak and Westwood and sell off part of the Audubon Golf Course, so the logical next step for the town is to approve the rezoning of the Westwood site to allow for its cleanup and development.

In July 2014, Mensch Capital Partners unveiled an innovative $238 million plan for Westwood, proposing a traditional, walkable and sustainable neighborhood, rooted in the planning goals and objectives of Town of Amherst’s Comprehensive Plan.

Following a series of Mensch-sponsored community “town hall” meetings, the Erie County Health Department asked Mensch to conduct a Phase 2 environmental study. The test results revealed traces of arsenic in the soil of the tee boxes, greens and some fairways, with concentrations that often exceed New York State Department of Environmental Conservation soil cleanup objectives for residential, commercial or industrial uses.

…

For the entire column, see

http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/viewpoints/everyone-will-benefit-from-cleanup-of-westwood-site-20160424

From the recipient of the 2016 Distinguished Service Award:  Nathaniel Montgomery, Sr. VP for Real Estate Development of the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, SoBro.

He mentioned the good work the  Brownfield Coalition of the Northeast does along with his high praise for the NYC Brownfield Partnership.

The sold out event hosted by the Partnership was held at New York Law School in New York, NY and was attended by BCONE Board members  Hannah Moore of the NYC OER  and  Larry Schnapf, Esq. of Schnapf Law and Sue Boyle, GEI Consultants, Inc. and Executive Director for BCONE.

By Ben Lambert, Torrington Register Citizen (CT)

City officials met Monday with U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty to discuss the ongoing redevelopment of brownfields and the economic future of the city. 

The city is currently engaged in a series of brownfields-related projects, buoyed by a state grant received earlier in the year from the state Department of Economic and Community Development. 

As part of this effort, two properties, at 100 Franklin Street, the former Hendey Machine Company and Stone Container site, 100 Summer Street, are set to be put into use, and a strategy to govern the future of brownfields sites around the city is to be created and codified.

Economic Development Director Erin Wilson said Monday that the Franklin Street property is to be developed as part of an ongoing “riverfront recapture” project, which includes the construction of a walking trail along the banks of the Naugatuck River. The grant will be used to assess the site, and how it can be better set up for future investment. Wilson mentioned the closure of the five-way intersection as a potential step.

…

For the entire article, see

http://www.registercitizen.com/article/RC/20160418/NEWS/160419601