The Chesapeake Commerce Center, a former General Motors plant in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Center for Automotive Research issued a report on Re-Purposing Former Automotive Manufacturing Plants (PDF), (December, 2011). The report reviews the re-use status of 267 closed manufacturing plants and analyzes seven case studies in depth. One of the case studies, the Duke Realty redevelopment of the former GM Plant in Baltimore, is a model for EPA-state cooperation on cleanup issues. Typical of many closed manufacturing plants, the cleanup involved EPA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) oversight. A key time-saving piece was that EPA and Maryland’s Department of the Environment (MDE) formed “an intergovernmental team that met intensively during the early stages of the revitalization process, and also worked closely with Duke.” Hull and Associates, one of the National Brownfields Coalition’s private sector partners, managed the cleanup and the EPA/MDE collaboration.
The project data base of closed and re-purposed auto manufacturing plants is posted here. The data indicate that while 128 of the 267 closed plants have been repurposed, 139 remain closed.
Michigan report recommends re-inventing brownfields
The Michigan Collaborative Stakeholder Initiative, working with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Michigan State University Extension, produced a report, Reinventing the State’s Cleanup and Redevelopment Programs. This Barnes and Thornberg summaryoffers highlights:
Brownfields Redevelopment: address reauthorization of financial incentives and related municipal environmental liability reforms;
Due Care Plans (“continuing obligations”): expedited review and approval (possibly within 45 days) for real estate lending and other transactions;
Remedial Action Plans (RAPs): decentralized review and approval at MDEQ District Offices (with elimination of Lansing Quality Review Ream (QRT) centralized review);
No Further Action (NFA): allow NFA determinations for partial sites;
Leaking Underground Storage Tanks: coordination of free-product/source removal recommendations with pending Part 213 legislative amendments;
GSI Criteria: coordinate with the Water Resources Division of MDEQ and reforms through pending legislative amendments;
Vapor Intrusion (VI): issue exposure pathway and clean-up criteria guidance and make determination on the applicability of OSHA permissible exposure limits at non-residential facilities; and
Part 201 Rules: elimination of many administrative rules in deference to detailed statutory provisions, consistent with ORR recommendations, and including mandated updates of clean-up criteria.
It is expected that many of the CSI group recommendations will be adopted, enacted or otherwise pursued yet this year, and perhaps as soon as the next 60-90 days. There is also a current statutory requirement that the Part 201 clean-up criteria administrative rules be updated before the end of this year.
There is a real sense from the stakeholders involved in the CSI that MDEQ is committed to meaningful reinvention of the environmental clean-up and Brownfield redevelopment program and that the momentum from this CSI process will carry forward. Obviously, time will tell which of these recommendations are in fact implemented and on what schedule.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
Quick Hits:
Dan Johnson of SCS Engineers (a Brownfields Leadership Circle member) authored an article in the San Diego Source: “Disbanding of California Redevelopment Agencies to Have Huge Consequences.
Reps. LaTourette, Fudge Introduce Legislation to Combat Vacant Housing.
Why Gen Y is causing the Great Migration of the 21st Century. (Better! Towns and Cities)
Solar proposal shines new light on East St. Louis brownfield. (STL Today)
The Hottest Trends in Urban Housing Favor Urban and Walkable. (Atlantic Cities)
The Simple Math That Can Save Cities From Bankruptcy. (Atlantic Cities)
Conferences and Webcasts:
Oklahoma Brownfields Conference
Oklahoma City, OK – May 22-23, 2012
Northeast Sustainable Communities Workshop
John Jay College, Manhattan, NY – June 7, 2012
Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference
New Orleans, LA – June 20-22, 2012
New Partners for Community Revitalization Albany Summit
Albany, NY – June 4-5, 2012
Land Bank Conference
Kalamazoo, MI – October 14-16, 2012
Newsletter prepared by Evans Paull, Executive Director, National Brownfields Coalition, 202-329-4282 or ev@redevelopmenteconomics.com.
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY THE BROWNFIELDS LEADERSHIP CIRCLE:
Platinum:
Silver:
Beazley
Cardno-TBE
CTC Public Benefit Corp.
Environmental Liability Transfer
Environmental Waste Management Associates
Genatt Associates
Larry Schnapf
O’Neill Properties
SCS Engineers
The Shaw Group
Terradex
Bronze:
Environmental Financial Advisor LLC
Maul-Foster-Alongi
Sustainable Strategies 2050
Wilentz, Goldman, and Spitzer