Feature
New Idaho program to refund cleanup costs
The state of Idaho has developed a unique pilot program that will refund 70 percent of cleanup costs to participating brownfields projects.
The Idaho Community Reinvestment Pilot Initiative will provide up to $1.5 million in state funds to 10 private and non-profit entities completing cleanups approved by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Through the program, upon cleanup completion, the state will issue a Community Reinvestment Rebate equaling 70 percent of cleanup costs incurred, with a maximum rebate of $150,000 per brownfield.
Keith Donahue, brownfields program manager for DEQ, doesn’t know of any similar program in the nation. “I think it’s an interesting, innovative tool, particularly for rural communities,” Donahue says. “It could be a template for other states.”
Strongly supported by the state Legislature and the Idaho Governor’s Office, the pilot program was created when state leaders started talking about how they could encourage brownfields redevelopment. Leaders first considered creating a tax credit, which many states already have established. Idaho leaders decided a rebate would be easier to carry out, Donahue says.
DEQ began taking applications for the pilot program last month. Applications will be taken until Jan. 17. Eligible participants include private landowners, partnerships, corporations and nonprofits that own a brownfield but did not cause or contribute to its contamination, or did not own the brownfield at the time of contamination.
After the application deadline, DEQ will rank the sites, selecting the top 10 priority projects. Six criteria will play a role in the ranking process, with the top priority going to rural communities--cities with a population of 20,000 or less.
This program may be a way to spark redevelopment in some of these rural towns that need a little help, says Idaho State Sen. Kate Kelly, a big supporter of the pilot program. “(It’s) a way to get some of these towns some action,” she says.
Sites also will be ranked according to:
- Identified social and economic benefits from the site’s reuse plan
- Whether contamination is complicating site redevelopment
- Whether the reuse plan meets local planning and reuse goals and is ready to proceed once the environmental issues are resolved
- Level of human health risk the cleanup will remedy
- Current site conditions, such as safety concerns, vacancy rates, visual impact, etc.
Donahue suspects many projects will be abandoned gas stations, dry cleaning facilities or old industrial properties holding up redevelopment in smaller communities. “I’m hoping we get a good variety,” he says. “I think we’ll get more than 10 people asking to participate this year.”
Because this is a pilot program, DEQ will track the participating brownfields projects, documenting such information as how much private money went into the cleanup and its economic impact on its community. At the end of four years, a report will be presented to the state Legislature. If the report shows the state seed money spurs redevelopment, the program may be permanently established, Donahue says.
And, if this pilot program proves to be successful, Donahue also suspects other states may follow Idaho’s lead. “It would be a good tool for others to bring to their legislators,” he says.
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Problem Solver
Library triggers downtown redevelopment
At nearly three-quarters of a century old, the Independence Public Library no longer could keep up with the needs of the small community in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
With less than 1,500 square feet for materials and people, the library was desperate for more space. The library had been built when there were 1,300 people living in Independence. Today, there are more than 8,000. Built in 1929, the library originally had only two electrical outlets in the entire building. The building was crowded and outdated.
“Kids would be sitting on the floor in the middle of the aisle doing homework,” says Robin Puccetti, the library’s director.
In 2003, Independence opened the doors to its new $1.8 million library, a state-of-the-art, green building that’s more than fives times the size of the former building. The new library includes plenty of room for people to sit and read, as well as a community room that’s booked most days out of the month. The library also has 16 public computers and is preparing to go wireless. Puccetti jokes there are electrical outlets everywhere.
But the Independence Public Library--built on two former brownfields sites--has also been a catalyst for economic redevelopment in the town’s historic downtown. Private developers are investing about $16 million into two projects: The Independence Cinema and Independence Station, a mixed-use development, are being built near the library.
“This has been a catalyst for other projects,” agrees Jim Glass, environmental specialist with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). “For revitalization for a rural downtown area, this is the first step to what appears to be a significant journey.”
The library is built on the former sites of the Indy 76 Gas Station and the A-Z Auto Parts store, neighboring businesses for about 50 years. In 1995, the owners of the gas station began decommissioning their underground storage tanks. Five tanks and 100 tons of contaminated soil were removed in the 1990s.
As DEQ was preparing to issue a No Further Action letter to that property owner, more contamination was discovered during work on underground utilities in an adjacent alley. Further investigation suggested the contamination was not coming from the gas station, but from the neighboring auto parts store. It appears the former owner dumped waste oil on the site.
It was during this time that the city decided to purchase both properties. It was a wonderful location for the public building, says City Manager Greg Ellis. It’s close to city hall and the post office, creating a nice civic center.
The city purchased the properties and was awarded a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant and a $500,000 Special Public Works Fund loan from the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department to demolish the former auto parts store and to construct the library.
Ellis sees many benefits to developing a brownfields site into a public space. He calls the $1.8 million cost of the library “seed money” that’s now attracting redevelopment.
“It’s a matter of livability and bringing services to people,” he says.
And with its first brownfields project completed, the city now has some valuable experience it can use in the future. “I don’t have any fear of brownfields contamination now,” Ellis says. “You do it one step at a time.”
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Groundwork
All Appropriate Inquiries becomes final rule
One year after it was published in the Federal Register, the definition of All Appropriate Inquiries--the process followed to evaluate a property’s environmental conditions and assess potential liability for any contamination--is now a final rule.
The final rule does not differ significantly from the interim standard. It includes all the main activities previously performed as part of environmental due diligence: site reconnaissance, records review, interviews and documentation of recognized environmental conditions. However, it enhances the inquiries by extending the scope of a few of the environmental due diligence activities, according to information from EPA. It also requires that significant data gaps or uncertainties be documented.
For example, the final rule requires the property’s current owner or occupants to be interviewed. The interim standard required only that a reasonable attempt be made. The final rule also includes provisions for interviewing past owners and occupants of the property. Under the interim standard, an environmental professional needed to ask only the current property owner about past uses.
In addition, the final rule requires an interview with an owner of a neighboring property if the site is abandoned. Under the interim standard, this was an option. It includes specific documentation requirements if the property cannot be visually inspected, as well.
The final rule requires an environmental professional’s inquiry to include:
- Interviews with past and present owners, operators and occupants
- Reviews of historical sources of information
- Reviews of federal, state, tribal and local government records
- Visual inspections of the facility and its adjoining properties
- Commonly known or reasonable ascertainable information
- Degree of obviousness of the presence or likely presence of contamination at the property and the ability to detect the contamination
All appropriate inquiries must be conducted or updated within a year of the date of the property’s acquisition. Many of the inquiry’s activities must be conducted by, or under the supervision of, someone who qualifies as an environmental professional. The final rule includes specific educational and experience requirements. The environmental professional must have one of the following:
- A state- or tribal-issued certification or license and three years of relevant full-time work experience
- A bachelor’s degree or higher in science or engineering and five years of relevant full-time work experience
- 10 years of relevant full-time work experience
A copy of the Final Rule Federal Register notice and several fact sheets summarizing the final rule’s requirements are available on the EPA Web site: www.epa.gov/brownfields/regneg.htm.
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News and Events
Proposals are due Dec. 8 for the 2007 brownfields assessment, revolving loan fund (RLF) and cleanup grants. A fact sheet on the 2007 brownfields assessment, RLF and cleanup grants is available at http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/. Proposal guidelines are available at http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/grants/epa-oswer-obcr-07-01.pdf. To discuss specific questions about your project or to request grant guidelines, contact EPA’s Terri Griffith at 206.553.8511 or griffith.terri@epa.gov, or Susan Morales at 206.553.7299 or morales.susan@epa.gov.
To view the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s quarterly newsletter, Brownfield Bulletin, visit http://www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/.
Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools--Electronic (SMARTe) is a web-based, decision analysis support system for developing and evaluating future reuse scenarios for potentially contaminated land. Developed by EPA’s Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment and the Office of Research and Development, SMARTe contains guidance and analysis tools for addressing all aspects of the revitalization process. View SMARTe at www.smarte.org.
ESRI, Magellan and the NVPC have launched a grant program for government agencies that will award 10 packages of Magellan GPS hardware and ESRI GIS software and technical assistance. The program’s objective is to use GIS and GPS applications to enhance vacant property informational/redevelopment practices. Applications are due Dec. 1. More information at www.vacantproperties.org and www.esri.com/grants/esri/econ_dev.html.
Dec. 7-8 in Portland: The Northwest Environmental Conference and Tradeshow at the Red Lion on the River--Jantzen Beach. Register at www.nwec.org.
Registration is now being taken for Oregon’s 2007 Brownfields Conference, March 1-2, 2007, in Salem, Ore. Nominations are being taken for the Oregon Brownfields Awards, to be presented March 2 at the conference. Sponsorship opportunities also are available, and there remains some exhibitor space in the conference’s Exhibit Hall. Scholarships to Oregon participants also are available to offset hotel costs and conference fees. For more information, contact Karen Homolac of the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department at 503-986-0191, or Karen.Homolac@state.or.us.
