There is general awareness of the need to perform environmental due diligence on virtually any transaction that involves commercial/industrial property. However, even with such general awareness missteps or lack of attention to detail during the process can risk exposing a purchaser or new tenant to significant liability. Having been involved in counseling on environmental due
Changes to the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Fund
In July, the Ohio General Assembly passed the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Main Operating Budget which included another round of $350 million in funding for the Brownfield Remediation Fund. This second round of funding builds up on the very successful launch of the program in the prior State budget.
While the structure of the program largely
BUILD Act- Federal Brownfield Legislation Includes Major New Liability Protections
Congress does not often pass environmental legislation, so the passage of the Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development Act (BUILD Act) is noteworthy. While the amount of federal funds available will still be far less than needed to move the needle, there are important changes to the law that will help facilitate brownfield
Jobs Sprawl and Brownfields
A very interesting article appeared in Crain’s Cleveland Business by Jay Miller discussing “jobs sprawl” and the lack of easy access to jobs.
Brad Whitehead, president of the Fund, points to a study by the Center for Neighborhood Technologies, a Chicago nonprofit that focuses on making cities work better, that found that housing costs in
Ohio EPA Responds to Concerns Regarding the VAP and the Agency’s Response to TCE
[SPECIAL BLOG POST: Ohio EPA asked to publish a guest post on the Ohio Environmental Law Blog regarding recent developments pertaining to the Agency’s response to sites with trichloroethene (TCE) and the Voluntary Action Program (VAP). The Ohio EPA response is posted below in its entirety]
In August 2017, Ohio EPA announced to Certified
Has Ohio Undermined Its Voluntary Cleanup Program?
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As discussed in my prior post, in September Ohio EPA announced that it would be sending “hundreds of letters” to property owners that have trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination, including property owners that cleaned up their property under the Voluntary Action Program (VAP). At the September meeting of VAP professionals the Agency announced that it could take
Ohio EPA to Issue Letters Regarding TCE to Property Owners
At a recent meeting of brownfield cleanup professionals, Ohio EPA announced plans to issue letters to owners of property contaminated with TCE. Ohio EPA says it reviewed thousands of sites and will be issuing letters to "hundreds" of sites where it has information in its files that TCE is present. Based on this review, the
JobsOhio Launches Site Selection Search Database
JobsOhio launched a new site selection tool called SiteOhio designed to provide easy access to businesses looking for locations to either develop new facilities or buy/lease existing buildings. The easy to use web based tool allows you to search by the following parameters:
- Available buildings of a certain size
- Vacant land based on acreage
- Businesses
Cuyahoga County May End Brownfield Program
After more than ten years of building a brownfield redevelopment program, Cuyahoga County Officials are currently contemplating bringing the program to a close. Over the last few years significant staff cuts have reduced the amount of resources dedicated to the program. Now it appears that in 2017 the various incentives available to attract redevelopment to
State of Ohio Pursues Recovery of Incentives
Companies expanding onto brownfield sites need public incentives to make their projects viable. However, the days when cleanup of contamination by itself could attract public incentives are long over. Under the new local and State brownfield programs companies must make job commitments and/or improvements to the property to attract government assistance.
When companies work with