EPA’s Land Revitalization Program can help communities identify possibilities for reusing a contaminated, or potentially contaminated site. Site reuse planning typically creates exciting opportunities within the redevelopment process. Check out  to help your community get started on identifying site reuse opportunities.

3 new documents are now available in the LR Toolkit :

• Revitalization-Ready: A Guide for Revitalizing Land in Your Communit: a step-by-step process for identifying reuse possibilities for contaminated sites.
• Preparing Your Plan for Site Reuse (pdf) helps a community evaluate the financial feasibility of different brownfields revitalization scenarios.
• Creating a Brownfields Investment Package (pdf) explains how to compile relevant site information into a highly visual communications and marketing document.

Posted January 10, 2022

Following the passage of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be making significant investments in the health, equity, and resilience of American communities. With unprecedented funding to support our national infrastructure, EPA will improve people’s health and safety, help create good-paying jobs, and increase climate resilience throughout the country.  

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests more than 1.5 billion through EPA’s highly successful Brownfields Program. This means that blighted and polluted sites in communities across America will be assessed, cleaned up and made available for safe reuse, spurring job creation and economic opportunity in areas that need it most. See below for the BIL Brownfields Factsheet that outlines high-level program messages on the first page and the draft/subject to change spending plan with timeline on the second. 

BIL Brownfields Factsheet: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-12/bil-brownfields-fy22-draft-plan.pdf

See full factsheet on BIL’s investments for EPA: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/fact-sheet-epa-bipartisan-infrastructure-law

Posted January 10, 2022

During the first term of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, his administration announced ambitious plans both to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases responsible for climate change and to change land use rules to mitigate the effects of rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. The State dubs this initiative “NJ PACT—New Jersey Protecting Against Climate Threats.” 

On December 6th, in the waning days of Murphy’s first term and before the start of his second term, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) proposed its most significant set of NJ PACT regulations to date, which focus on limiting emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from stationary sources. The proposed rule has three parts. First, it places emissions limits on CO2 from electric generating units (EGUs), i.e., the combustion or steam-generating equipment that generates electricity at power plants. These limits will become more stringent over time. Second, it creates a regulatory presumption that certain large boilers fired by fossil fuels should be replaced by electric boilers when they reach the end of their useful lives. Finally, the rule bans the sale and use of No. 4 and No. 6 fuel oil in New Jersey. This rule, each portion of which is described in more detail below, will have a significant impact in the coming years. Various elements of this wide-ranging rule will impact diverse industries, including energy, manufacturing, commercial real estate, education, and healthcare, to name a few. Parties that may be affected by the restrictions should consider whether to comment on the proposed rule or even start to plan for potential operational impacts of new regulation.

Read more...

Posted December 20, 2021

We thank our member AWT Environmental for this information.

As many of you know, the NJDEP has expanded the reach of the A901 program to include the management of recyclable soil and fill materials that were previously handled outside of the hauler licensing requirement. The law was signed by the Governor on January 20, 2020, with a recent Compliance Advisory Update on September 10, 2021. The law requires companies and persons engaging in the act of hauling or brokering “dirty dirt” to obtain an A901 license in order to continue engaging in these activities. The LSRPA and other organizations are actively working with the Department to receive clarifications on the applicability of this requirement as well as exemptions for certain persons and activities. The program continues to develop as we speak.

While it is beyond AWT’s scope to interpret the law and its applicability to any certain person or organization, here are a few resources for your review to help guide you with determining how it might affect your business:

• https://www.nj.gov/dep/dshw/a901/soil_fill_dirty_dirt_overview.pdf
• https://nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/pdf/EO-263.pdf
• https://www.nj.gov/dep/enforcement/advisories/2021-11.pdf
• https://www.nj.gov/dep/dshw/a901/soil_fill_dirty_dirt_faq.pdf

Posted December 20, 2021

Robert Lamilla, Parker McKay Blog

Recently, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (“NJEDA”) announced the launch of the new Brownfields Impact Fund, a new program offering loans and sub-grants to eligible applicants across New Jersey to promote remediation of contaminated sites. Applications for the Brownfield Impact Fund are expected to open early 2022, but interested parties can complete a pre-qualification form found on the NJEDA’s website.

Read more...

Posted December 14, 2021

By Adam Sullivan, WCAX TV-3 News (Burlington, VT)

Vermont is investing $25 million to clean up old contaminated properties across the state.

One of the brownfield sites is a former machine tool plant in Springfield that has sat empty for decades.

Work is ahead of schedule at the former Jones and Lamson Machine Company plant, a demolition project that in some ways represents the past present and future of this community.

“Most of the 270,000-square-foot building is no longer there,” said Bob Flint of the Springfield Regional Development Corporation.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.wcax.com/2021/12/06/brownfield-cleanup-work-has-springfield-residents-looking-future/

from Real Estate New Jersey

The publication assembled a panel of industry experts to tackle this month’s question. You can find out the answers of several industry experts by clicking on the link here. 

Posted December 1, 2021

Troy Record

Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced the completion of the Starbuck Island redevelopment project, a $65 million investment that transformed more than 11-acres of contaminated oil storage brownfield into a high-density, vibrant waterfront community in the Village of Green Island, Albany County.

Starbuck Island connects Green Island to downtown Troy and is now home to nearly 270 residential units, a salon, a restaurant and parking.

“The transformation of Starbuck Island into a new engaging waterfront neighborhood is a testament to the state’s brownfield cleanup program and economic development incentives,” Hochul said. “With the project now complete, residents and visitors to the newest community on the Hudson River can enjoy the many amenities, spectacular views, and local businesses, spurring additional investments to the region.”

…

For the entire article, see

https://www.troyrecord.com/2021/11/28/state-announces-completion-of-starbuck-island-in-green-island/

Posted December 1, 2021

Following the passage of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be making significant investments in the health, equity, and resilience of American communities. With unprecedented funding to support our national infrastructure, EPA will improve people’s health and safety, help create good-paying jobs, and increase climate resilience throughout the country.   

The fact sheet highlights Brownfields Revitalization: 1.5 billion to scale up community-led brownfields revitalization. This means that blighted and polluted sites in communities across America will be assessed, cleaned up and made available for safe reuse, spurring job creation and economic opportunity in areas that need it most.

View the full fact sheet: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/fact-sheet-epa-bipartisan-infrastructure-law

Posted December 1, 2021

By Kendall M. St.Ange, ENVSP, Project Scientist of TRC Companies

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Mr. St.Ange is an Aspiring Professional from member company TRC.  He will be providing  a series of updates/blog posts related to Environmental Justice (EJ) in NJ: a hot topic as all of you know. Mr. St.Ange has observed that EJ requirements do not apply to LSRPs and remediation permits but also anticipates that questions and conflicts may arise despite that exemption. He has shared this post to “… add more value to the organization and encourage others to actively participate…”

On September 22, 2021, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Commissioner announced the issuance of Administrative Order (AO) No. 2021-25 to implement New Jersey’s Environmental Justice (EJ) Law. This order is effective immediately, and applicants seeking to site new major source facilities, renew major source permits or expand existing facilities with major source permits (e.g., Title V air permits) in overburdened communities are affected. There are more than 4.5 million people that live within 331 municipalities that are overburdened communities in the state of New Jersey.

The Administrative Order requires an enhanced public participation process that requires facilities to:

• Hold a public hearing meeting as determined by the Environmental Justice Law.
  
• To the extent consistent with applicable law, have a public comment period that is a minimum of sixty (60) days. If there is written request from members of the respective overburdened community, the public comment period may be extended by thirty (30) days to provide information related to “information regarding existing conditions within the overburdened community and potential facility-wide environmental and public health stressors that could result in adverse impacts upon the overburdened community were the regulated activity approved.”
  
• Respond to and address the concerns raised by individuals from the overburdened community during the public comment period, which may include the need to perform additional analysis as deemed necessary by the NJDEP.
  
• Solicit concerns from the overburdened community regarding environmental or public health stressors posed by the facility.
  
• Adhere to special conditions placed on permits approved by the NJDEP. Special conditions may be placed to avoid or minimize public health stressors to the maximum extent allowed by law.
  

NJDEP has the authority to reopen or further extend the public comment period on a case-by-case basis, as consistent with applicable law and statues.

Title V permit holders in overburdened communities in New Jersey must take steps to address new and multi-faceted environmental justice regulations and should do so in an effective manner to avoid business difficulties and manage public relations issues. This AO has the potential to significantly impact project schedules for new projects or facility expansions. Therefore, identifying EJ-related concerns during the planning phase is critical to a successful project and benefits both the business and the community.

Posted November 22, 2021