Ohio EPA has established its own voluntary cleanup program for addressing hazardous substances and obtaining a legal release from liability- the Voluntary Action Program (VAP). The VAP program has been on the books since 1995.
When the VAP was created its purpose was to allow the private sector to address historical contamination at industrial or
ASTM 1527-05 was the first ASTM standard recognized by U.S. EPA as meeting the requirements of the "All Important Inquiries Rule." (AAI) AAI sets forth the standards and practices necessary for fulfilling the requirements to obtain liability protection (i.e. bona fide purchaser defense) under CERCLA section 101(35)(B). Most Phase I proposals reference 1527-05.
Performing appropriate environmental due diligence prior to acquisition of any industrial or commercial property is a necessity. Due to expansive liability under environmental statutes, most notably CERCLA (i.e. Superfund), a purchaser of contaminated property can be held liable for all cleanup costs regardless of whether the purchaser caused the contamination or knew it was present.
A task force assigned to review the ASTM standard for Phase I environmental assessments has completed its review of the current standard. It has sent its recommendations to U.S. EPA who is expected to accept the recommendations.
Any revisions to the ASTM standard for Phase I has big implications. Phase I reports are a requirement of the
Often times businesses only worry about performing due diligence (Phase Is and Phase IIs) when they are purchasing a building, factory or land. In my experience, many tenants never think about the fact that they could inherit liability for pre-existing contamination just by leasing property. However, tenants, particularly those that are leasing industrial space, should
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On March 6th the Clean Ohio Council approved major changes to the Clean Ohio program. The changes are now effective and will govern the remaining $15 million in funding that was set aside in the last budget.
After the $15 million has been exhausted, JobsOhio has indicated it will launch a new $43 million per
Last year the Kasich Administration announced that it was phasing out the Clean Ohio brownfield grant program. The Clean Ohio program,which had been in existence for over a decade, had provided approximately $37.5 million per year in incentives for cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields.
Last May, the Administration allocated a final $15 million toward traditional
On Friday, the Clean Ohio Council met to discuss proposed changes to the Clean Ohio program. As discussed previously on this blog, the Kasich Administration has repeatedly discussed completely revamping brownfield funding in Ohio. The Administration previously announced its intention to shift the program’s administration to JobsOhio along with the liquor profits that were used to payoff
The Kasich Administration has decided that it wants to put the legal challenges to JobsOhio to rest once and for all. Through legal maneuvering the Administration has put the ultimate question- is JobsOhio constitutional- before the Ohio Supreme Court. At issue is whether transfer of liquor profits to JobsOhio violates the Ohio Constitutional prohibition on
With regard to industrial properties and brownfields clean ups, perhaps no issue clean up standard has garnered more attention and increased scrutiny than indoor air. It looks like 2012 could be the year when EPA finally updates its decade old draft guidance.
EPA never finalized its 2002 draft guidance on assessing indoor air risks ("OSWER Draft Guidance for Evaluating the