First Brownfield Cleanup Completed Under New DEP, EPA Program

Boeing’s Ridley Park brownfield site in Delaware County, PA, has become the first industrial cleanup site under a landmark agreement streamlining state and federal brownfield remediation efforts. 

The “One Cleanup Program” stipulates that sites remediated under the state’s brownfields program also satisfy requirements for three key federal laws: the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation Liability Act, or Superfund. Removing the threat of federal legal action once a site meets Pennsylvania’s stringent cleanup standards not only helps to stimulate the productive reuse of abandoned industrial sites, but it also makes “greenfield” development less attractive. 

Pennsylvania has a number of enhanced management approaches and financial packages to enhance redevelopment in Pennsylvania. The Governor’s Business in Our Sites Fund provides $300 million for local redevelopment authorities and economic development corporations to make brownfield sites “pad ready.” Governor Rendell also launched the Brownfield Action Team in 2004 to create a single-point-of-contact system to streamline the permit process so projects can go from the design phase to on-the-ground construction in a timely manner that meets the needs of both the investors and community. BAT projects typically get permitted in half the usual time. For low-risk brownfield sites, DEP streamlined the process for remediation plans that receive the stamp of approval from a licensed professional engineer. This allows communities to reclaim smaller, low-risk sites that might not appeal to larger developers but still mean a great deal to small businesses seeking to reinvest in neighborhoods. http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/landrecwaste/lib/landrecwaste/land_recycling/moa_rcra_process.pdf

For more information on brownfield redevelopment design, contact info@fxbrowne.com.