New York’s brownfield cleanup program created under a state law in 2003 provides substantial tax credits and other incentives to clean up and redevelop abandoned or neglected properties, known as brownfields. The level of cleanup is based on the future use of the site (e.g. residential, commercial or industrial). The law sets up a hierarchy of cleanups, with a preference for complete and permanent cleanups. Sites that are cleaned up enough to be safe for residential and all other uses receive the highest tax credits.
But the state has broken its promise to New Yorkers. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the agency responsible for overseeing toxic waste cleanups and protecting our health and the environment, has issued regulations that would leave unsafe levels of pollution at brownfield sites that have been “cleaned up.” The DEC’s cleanup regulations allow too much toxic waste to stay on site, putting our health, drinking water, and environment at risk. And even though these regulations were finalized in December 2006, just weeks before Governor Pataki left office, the new administration has failed to correct them.
THOUSANDS OF CONTAMINATED SITES ACROSS NEW YORK COULD BE AFFECTED
Nearly every community in New York State is affected by brownfield sites. Contaminated and abandoned properties exist in big cities, small towns, sprawling suburbs and the rural countryside. Inadequate cleanups that leave too much contamination on site can result in health and environmental problems for people living near the site, such as polluting nearby wells used for drinking water and toxic runoff leaching into basements, and can endanger people who live or work on the site in the future.
The Brownfield law requires that cleanups protect people, especially children, as well as drinking water, rivers and streams, and fish and wildlife. Instead, DEC’s cleanup standards allow unsafe levels of heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and other toxic chemicals to remain on site. Leaving too much contamination on site can result in health and environmental problems offsite, such as groundwater contamination and toxic runoff, and can endanger people who live or work on the site in the future.
NYPIRG and three other environmental groups are currently suing the DEC to get them to fix the Brownfields Cleanup Program. For more information, see our 2007 report, “Cleaning Up: Fixing New York’s Broken Brownfield Cleanup Program.”
