New York BCP
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has instituted the Brownfields Cleanup Program (BCP) to encourage investors to voluntarily remediate brownfields sites. The program offers tax credits to private parties remediating a site for redevelopment. The process starts with the submittal of an application to enter the program. Upon approval of the application, the participant provides a public notification and a site characterization work plan. The site characterization evaluates the nature and extent of contamination, and the participant picks one of four tracks from unrestricted use (Track 1) to site-specific site cleanup objectives (SCOs) with restrictions on use (Track 4). The data are subjected to an Alternatives Analysis and the selected alternative is offered to the NYSDEC and the public. Remediation proceeds after acceptance of the selected alternative. Once the SCOs have been attained, a final report is submitted and a certificate of completion is provided to the remediator. The remediator can then capture the tax credits and begin the redevelopment.
The NYSDEC has published guidance documents (DER-10, -23, -31, -32, and -33) to guide remedial activities in the State of New York. Additionally, cleanup criteria for remedial programs are published under 6 NYCRR Part 375.
New York BCP Experience
I have provided consulting support on two BCP sites near Buffalo, New York. I served as the project manager and technical lead on one of these sites, which had been abandoned in the 1970's and was underused due to soil contamination. The adjacent site was being remediated under New York's State CERCLA equivalent program. These sites had historically been contaminated with various constituents by industrial activities. The responsible party offered a redevelopment plan for the state CERCLA site and proposed the adjacent site for entry into the BCP in order to provide a viable redevelopment for both sites. Both sites were remediated to commercial and/or restricted residential SCOs using the DER guidance. These sites have received the certificate of completion and are currently undergoing redevelopment. In addition, the process from identification of the Sites to closure took only four years.