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  • 16 Feb 2016 10:09 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    by Eve Britton, Bristol Pres (CT)

    BRISTOL - A new “ultra-clean” power plant is being envisioned at an old contaminated scrap-metal yard on Middle Street.

    Officials at FuelCell Energy in Danbury have begun negotiations with the city to build the green-energy generation grid a block south of ESPN.

    The 15-acre city-owned site, at 894 Middle St., has been designated a Brownfield - a contaminated site eligible for federally funded rehabilitation - by the state.

    FuelCell Energy officials have expressed interest in leasing between two and three acres on the site to support seven to 12 units, producing anywhere from two to 20 megawatts of power.

    Those numbers could change. “It frankly hasn’t been determined yet,” said Frank Wolak, vice president for government and business, about the company’s plans.

    For the entire article, see
    http://www.centralctcommunications.com/bristolpress/article_8b6b29ec-d130-11e5-885c-470c822cf026.html

  • 16 Feb 2016 10:07 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    by Bill Leukhardt, Hartford Courant (CT)

    SOUTHINGTON – Cleanup work should begin soon at the former Beaton and Corbin plumbing fixture factory, vacant since 1989, marred by severe industrial pollution and gutted by an 2003 arson fire, town economic development director Louis Perillo said Friday.

    A $400,000 state grant awarded Wednesday for the job will allow remediation to begin so a private developer can buy the property and build a 13,000 square foot office retail complex on the 3-acre lot, he said.

    "We're really excited about this," Perillo said of the pending reuse of a prime North Main Street lot that's been an eyesore for decades. Some of Perillo's relatives once worked at the factory, one of many heavy industrial businesses here that provided jobs for decades until those firms closed shop in the 1980s.

    For the entire article, see

    http://www.courant.com/community/southington/hc-southington-brownfield--grant-0213-20160212-story.html


  • 08 Feb 2016 3:20 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    by Adam Shanks, Berkshire Eagle (MA)

    NORTH ADAMS - Developers of the Greylock Mill can move forward with the cleanup of the former industrial site without fear of liability for the contamination.

    The project, along with two others in the state, has been accepted into the Brownfields Covenant program, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

    Under the program, the developers will enter a special Covenant Not to Sue agreement, which will reduce its liability as it revitalizes the massive, but environmentally contaminated complex on State Road.

    "The covenant process was critical to understanding and containing the risks associated with the pre-existing conditions of the site," said Salvatore Perry, developer for the project. "The meetings we had with experienced professionals at [the Department of Environmental Protection] increased awareness among the many stakeholders, and fostered a collaborative dynamic to shape a reasonable plan that will clean up the Greylock Mill site."

    For the entire article, see

    http://www.berkshireeagle.com/local/ci_29465490/north-adams-greylock-mill-project-accepted-into-brownfields

  • 29 Jan 2016 11:40 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    by Bill Leukhardt, Hartford Courant (CT)

    SOUTHINGTON - A company that prepares former industrial sites for eventual sale to developers is now involved in the tricky job of cleaning the polluted, fire-scarred Beaton & Corbin factory site.

    The nonprofit Connecticut Brownfields Landbank won town council approval Monday night to help the town clean and resell the 3-acre site, owned by a now-bankrupt corporation that went out of business in 1989.

    The town is owed more than $94,000 in back taxes by the defunct owner. Ownership is in limbo but town officials will not foreclose because it means Southington would then own the land and be legally responsible for cleaning industrial wastes that soaked into the dirt during the plumbing factory's decades of operation.

    For the entire article, see http://www.courant.com/hc-southington-brownfield-clean-0127-20160126-story.html

  • 29 Jan 2016 11:06 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Information from the New Partners for Community Revitalization

    On January 14th, Governor Cuomo announced his budget proposal for 2016, and it includes new spending for Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA) program participants and other communities struggling with revitalization.

    The New Partners for Community Revitalization (NPCR) has been following the BOA program from its inception, and we know that it works. (See NPCR's Albany Times Union Op-Ed, published on the morning of the Governor's State of the State). As the only Statewide program in the country that drives community-based revitalization in poorer neighborhoods burdened with brownfields, the BOA program has provided hope and real economic uplift across the State. And now Governor Cuomo has endorsed the program by providing new BOA funding for the first time since he took office.  

    In yesterday's budget announcement, there was important news for low-income communities struggling with revitalization. NPCR is particularly excited about the Governor’s decision to begin funding Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA) grants after a three year hiatus. The new funding - $2 million for 2016 – will be part of the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), a logical funding source for a program designed to get contamination cleaned up and communities rebuilt after decades of post-industrial blight. 

    There was more good news for the same communities that the BOA program was designed to help.The Governor is proposing to increase spending on municipal parks from the $15,750,000 made available in 2015 to $20 million in 2016, half of which is earmarked specifically for inner-city/underserved communities. Likewise, of the $15 million announced for waterfront revitalization - up from $12.5 million - $10 million is carved out for inner city/underserved communities. The Administration will also grow its environmental justice program; the Governor is proposing $7 million in spending for another new EPF category, an environmental justice initiative to be developed with input from the EJ community.

    All of these programs are in addition to a large infrastructure investment the Governor has proposed for downstate, and new competitive grants for upstate "downtown" revitalization.

    This is all good news, but more needs to be done.The BOA program is burdened with duplicative steps and long delays in funding; it needs to be streamlined. There is also a need for a pre-development funding cycle once planning completed, to help communities begin to implement their plans and work with private investors. NPCR will be looking to the Senate and the Assembly to reintroduce A.7970, Brindisi/S.5341 Avella to streamline and strengthen the BOA program. We will need your help to get it passed.

    It must also be said that the $2 million to be made available for BOA grants, though very welcome after years of no funding, is not nearly enough to match both need and readiness to move communities through the BOA process, or to provide for the brownfield assessments that are key to moving forward with development. We will be talking to the Governor and Legislative leaders about increasing this amount in the final budget agreement.

    NPCR heartily thanks all of you who have written to the Governor and your legislators about the importance of the BOA program. Please keep those communications going!

  • 04 Jan 2016 5:12 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    by Anastasios Lazaropoulos

    What’s harder to sell than a story about a bronze rat statue?  A Brownfield property.*

    Brownfields, underutilized but valuable properties sometimes littered with environmental contamination, are the hardest properties to sell in this day and age. The fear of coming under fire from federal statutes like CERCLA or RCRA keep many developers at bay. The developers that take the challenge often end up with a nice payout at the end of the day but only after navigating the arduous process of Brownfield remediation. For these developers, even before the remediation, comes the hard part: How do you find one of these sites for sale and is there an inkling of what lurks within the potential Pandora’s Box of this type of rehabilitation?

    In comes Mr. Dan French, an attorney turned CEO who’s advised DOW 30 companies and small rural cities alike and saw the same issues holding Brownfields back. A more difficult due diligence process, a disconnect between buyers and sellers of these sites and an overall broken system to obtain the information about the sites themselves. With his extensive knowledge of real estate and a strong social mission to assist those in the public sector challenged by Brownfield issues came BrownfieldListings.com.

    Brownfield Listings is an online self-listing service for Brownfields and other development sites, currently in its beta stage and launching its full release later this month (January 2016). Sellers and organizations from all over the U.S. and its territories are able to post their Brownfield sites in an organized and easy to understand system. Each listing calls for essential details like what kind of pollution is on the property or whether or not any work has been done. Listers can upload documents including photos and aerials of the site, and tag its current status and property conditions. In this national marketplace, buyers can contact sellers directly regardless of their location, expanding the market and giving more chances for these sites to get cleaned up by organizations with the right know-how.

    The platform provides much of its functionality for free, such as signing up, creating organizations and posting basic listings. Brownfield Listings also provides premium products like the premium listings, which are shareable and include a “Project Board” property listers can use to daylight even more information online. This project tool includes a newsfeed to share updates on project progress, plans, and needs as well as an optional forum section, for public engagement, professional advice, and even recommendations to be posted. Also included is a “Diligence Repository,” which is a simple and customizable data room to organize documents, images, and other due diligence materials. These premium tools come with a $44.99 monthly subscription, with portfolio and public sector discounts available.

    The best part about this website, is the fact even with all this innovation, Brownfield Listings isn’t content sitting on its laurels. The team at Brownfield Listings is constantly working to simplify the redevelopment process and develop more powerful tools. Having recently launched “Portfolios”—sites grouped by owner, geography or type—French expressed excitement for the upcoming Brightfield Portfolio. Brightfields are sites great for renewable solar energy systems. By posting in the Brightfield Portfolio, listers will make it much easier to market to solar developers who can more easily find sites, investigate them and connect directly to the lister.

    Expect much more to come. Brownfield Listings provides a nexus for every developer and public and private sector Brownfield owner to connect online and exchange information, redeveloping more properties, cleaning up more contaminated sites and helping the economy and the Environment. Their easy to use website is bridging the brownfield gap and driving market innovation forward into the future. Visit this most excellent website at: https://brownfieldlistings.com.

    *(To understand this obscure reference, please click here AFTER you read the article: http://www.jokesabout.net/lawyers-the-bronze-rat).

  • 04 Jan 2016 4:33 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The last of nearly 200 electricians and laborers at a Mount Holly landfill finished last week, leaving behind a sprawling solar farm that will capture the sun's rays and convert them into energy.

    The solar farm atop the former L&D Landfill has begun silently churning out about 12.9 megawatts of energy. That's enough electricity to power about 2,000 homes, PSE&G officials say.

    "It's our largest solar farm in New Jersey," said Todd Hranicka, director of Solar Energy for the utility company, as rows and rows of 42,000 panels were being installed on a gray day last month. In recent days, a direct "interconnection" was made between the panels and the grid. 

    Francis Sullivan, a PSE&G spokesman, said the solar farm is in full operation and "only needs maintenance every six months." Snow, rain and wind typically do not create any problems for the panels, but minor adjustments may need to be made, he said. 

    The interconnection was performed by linking the wires in the solar panels to a line of wires underground that travel up a single utility pole at the edge of the site, Sullivan said. The solar energy directly enters the grid, he said, mingling with the current traveling into peoples' homes. "It's hard to say exactly where the electrons go, exactly, but they would go into homes in the surrounding area," in Burlington County, Sullivan said. There's no storage system, so the amount generated depends on how sunny the day is and also the length of the day, he said. The output is also calculated by considering the amount of solar power generated by each panel, the average amount of electricity used per household, and other factors, Sullivan said. 

  • 16 Dec 2015 10:07 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Two of BCONE’s Executive Committee attended  "Embracing the Future,  the Leading Women Entrepreneurs Top 25 Recognition" Event held at Liberty House in Jersey City on Monday, November 16, 2015.  It was a warm, crystal clear evening  with a fantastic view of the NYC skyline outside and a high-energy celebration inside the venue. BCONE’s  Executive Director, Sue Boyle of GEI Consultants, was  recognized as one the best and brightest women entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs of New Jersey.  Sue refers to the NYC and Jersey City skylines when she discusses her brownfields career in an interview on the Leader Woman Entrepreneur – Embracing the Future 2015 YouTube Channel. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpEffX36nRg).

    The photo, taken by President Jaffe, shows Sue surrounded by BCONE members (from left) Elizabeth Limbrick of NJIT, Colleen Kokas of NJDEP, and Caryn Barnes and Sharon McSwieney of Langan. The event showcased exceptional women with strong business acumen and their  reinvention of  themselves and their businesses in an ever changing and ever challenging marketplace and economy. The LWE finalists support hundreds of non-profits, employ thousands of people, and generating millions of dollars.

  • 07 Dec 2015 12:06 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    On November 17, 2015, the Brownfield Coalition of the Northeast (BCONE), Economic Development Association of NJ (EDANJ), and the Licensed Site Remediation Professionals Association (LSRPA) joined forces over margaritas and Mexican appetizers at Los Amigos and held a joint networking event after the League of Municipalities Conference sessions in Atlantic City. Over 40 people, including developers, financial firms, law firms, environmental consultants, planners, government officials,   contractors, real estate professionals and other real estate and environmental service providers enjoyed conversations in the packed bar and on the side porch due to unseasonably lovely weather. There was an excellent  energy level and lots of mingling across organizations. New members of all three associations who attended really enjoyed the introduction to the groups and made connections that will benefit them, and the groups received new volunteers for their committees.  A win-win all around.

  • 29 Sep 2015 11:16 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    by Elizabeth Limbrick, NJIT / NJII

    Many of the movers and shakers in the brownfield industry were in attendance at the National Brownfields Workshop 2015 in Chicago.   The conference was well-attended and sparked a great dialogue. One ever-present mover and shaker, was Dan French, of Brownfield Listings.  Mr. French was a featured panelist at BCONE’s 2015 Northeast Sustainable Communities Workshop.  Mr. French’s company, Brownfield Listings, provided a new web portal giving communities an opportunity to list their brownfield properties, projects, and profiles for free.  

    Several of the educational sessions were standing room only, including:  Hopportunity Knocks, and the Keys to Sustaining a Local Brownfields Program.   In addition, to the plethora of education sessions, there were plenty of opportunities to network with colleagues and meet new people.   BCONE co-hosted a lunch meet up, with over 30 people attending. 

    One of the overarching themes discussed at Brownfields 2015 was that the there has never been a better time for brownfield redevelopment.  The challenge for brownfield redevelopment is taking risk, and our jobs as brownfield professionals are to minimize that risk.  

    Even before the conference kicked off there were great pre-conference sessions on many topics including Environmental Justice, which was hosted by the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. Other important topics covered at the conference included, managing stormwater on brownfield sites, working with railroads, green infrastructure and environmental justice. A bike tour of Chicago provided an opportunity for participants to tour former brownfield sites within the City that had been transformed into park space. 

    The Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, USEPA  Administrator, Gina McCarthy, and Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanisalaus kicked of the official start of conference with a rousing opening plenary session.  The session harkened back to the 1980s with Administrator McCarthy calling for communities to demand clean air, clean water, and healthy communities.  She also noted, “People need to have a connection to the natural world.”  Administrator McCarthy added, “We have the moral obligation to address local environmental issues, like protecting vulnerable populations.”  Administrator McCarthy also stated that the choices for local communities are best by those local communities and that EPA’s role is to fund and assist, “A little bit of money can spark a lot of investment.” Administrator McCarthy provided us with many interesting statistics on the program.  Since the EPA Brownfield grant program began, over 24,000 sites have been assessed, 1,000,000 acres have been cleaned up and made ready for reuse, and $23 Billion has been leveraged for cleanup and redevelopment.  One of the most interesting statistics Administrator McCarthy shared was that when brownfields are redeveloped 32-52% fewer vehicle miles are traveled in those neighborhoods.  This indicates that brownfield redevelopment is transforming communities into vibrant places / destinations, and that they are no longer a drive through community where people are running to get out.    Mathy Stanislaus noted that “Brownfields are the economic engine of the future” and that brownfields unleash potential. 

    For the Mayor’s Roundtable session, Congressman Dan Kildee interviewed several mayors.  Congressman Kildee asked, “How can the federal government find support for all kinds of large-scale projects, but we can’t seem to find ways to subsidize a full-scale supermarket?” Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson of Gary Indiana noted that when it comes to sustainable practices “Everyone loves density until it comes to their neighborhood.”  She also noted that “It takes a lot of patience to get brownfields work done.  The work has to be done over a period of time over many administrations.”   Duluth Minnesota Mayor Don Ness, summed it all up with the quip that “As a mayor, brownfield work seems magical. We need to tell better stories."  He added that Brownfield works takes courage.   And Dayton Ohio Mayor Nan Whaley noted that brownfields redevelopment is "about making people believe that their community can be great again."  Mayor Madeline Rogero of Knoxville Tennessee noted that there is so much brownfield redevelopment in Knoxville that “Our new city flower is the orange construction cone.”    The mayors also noted that over the years, we had turned our back on our natural resources, such rivers, because they had such a bad legacy of pollution (whether it was from tanneries, or slaughterhouses, or chemical factories).  In recent years, there has been an awakening, and communities want to take their resources back.  Many communities have now embraced rivers as resources, and included them in their redevelopment plans.  

    This and more was seen and heard throughout the days of the conference. Seek out a professional or firm who attended for more detailed information regarding technical, financial, and regulatory stories that are currently driving brownfield redevelopment near you. The conference was a great success, with so many experts in one place.


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