In Ohio, the primary brownfield cleanup program is known as the Voluntary Action Program (VAP). Volunteers can cleanup their site to commercial/industrial or residential standards. Upon completing the cleanup the volunteer can receive a legal release from the State of Ohio (called a "Covenant-Not-to-Sue" or CNS).
The CNS under the VAP does not include a
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Prior to 2008 it seemed every company was talking about sustainability. It was unprecedented the number of corporations that were putting out sustainability reports or hiring senior executives responsible for corporate "green" strategy. That changed with the financial crisis.
In a few short months the "green" movement was replaced with concerns about jobs and saving
The Obama Administrative continues to be heavily criticized by industry for its aggressive development of greenhouse gas regulations. In contrast to the dizzying pace of new greenhouse gas regulations stands finalization of a new ozone standard…something the President promised to do after being elected to his first term.
Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is
In a very significant case, the Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for U.S. EPA imposed a $2.5 million dollar penalty against a manufacturer, Elementis Chromium, Inc. ("Elementis") for failing to submit a health study to EPA pursuant to the requirements of TSCA. The EPA imposed the large penalty despite the fact,
On January 7th, Scott Nally resigned as Director of Ohio EPA after a three year stint. Local media coverage of his resignations raised questions regarding the abrupt and surprise announcement. Speculation included the fact that it was tied to the Nally’s firing of long-time Division of Surface Water Chief George Elmaraghy earlier this year. This
On December 30th, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally took action trying to address the confusion it caused when it previously issued a final rule recognizing both ASTM 1527-05 and 1527-13 as appropriate standards for conducting Phase I assessment. A proper Phase I assessment is a requirement for establishing the Bona Fide Purchaser Defense
Over the weekend, there was a good blog post on Schnapf LLC Blog discussing which Phase I standard lawyers and consultants should use for at least the rest of 2013. Due to an unanticipated reversal by U.S. EPA, there is a gap right now between the current ASTM standard and EPA’s recognized standard for Phase
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On October 22nd, Kristi Tanner, a managing director of JobsOhio presented regarding Ohio’s new brownfield redevelopment incentive program which will replace Clean Ohio. Many in the brownfield redevelopment community have been anxiously awaiting the roll-out of the new program.
According to Ms. Tanner, JobsOhio will start discussing potential projects now, but awards under the new
As discussed in a prior post, U.S. EPA had issued a direct final rule approving the use of the new ASTM Standard E 1527-13 "Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process." The final rule was set to take effect on November 13, 2013.
If the rule had gone into
This past spring, the Kasich Administration put another $15 million in grant funding into the Clean Ohio program. (See prior post). While a public announcement has yet to be made regarding grant awards for the remaining $15 million, it is my understanding that the money is allocated. Announcements may be made next week at