States, EPA cooperate on brownfields cleanup.

Building on successful state voluntary cleanup programs for abandoned or idled brownfields, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a Brownfields Action Agenda in 1994 that has evolved into an effective partnership between states, cities and the federal agency.

"It takes cooperation among all levels of government to be effective," says Linda Garczynski, director of outreach and special projects staff at EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. She says state voluntary cleanup programs and EPA's action agenda complement one another. States have designed programs that encourage and oversee voluntary cleanups. The EPA offers funds so states and cities can redevelop sites where no responsible party can be identified for clean up.

The Minnesota Legislature started the voluntary movement in 1988 as a way to work around the intrusive federal Superfund law that made it easier and cheaper for owners to abandon property rather than to clean it up. Its "land recycling" program offers incentives to participants as a way of luring them into agreements to clean up contaminated property. Thirty other states followed, creating comprehensive cleanup programs with financial incentives and liability protection for property owners and prospective purchasers of contaminated property.

To date, EPA has funded 60 pilot sites and has plans for 25 new pilot projects in FY 1997. EPA has $36.7 million in the budget for brownfields activities this year including $5 million for the new pilot programs, $10 million in a revolving loan fund to spur redevelopment projects and $10 million to support state voluntary cleanup programs. Each pilot program gets up to $200,000 over two years to test redevelopment models, reduce regulatory barriers, and foster public and private coordination at the federal, state and local levels.

Garczynski says the agency hopes to expand the program to 300 cities over the next four or five years - a $700 million commitment that should show up in the FY 1998 budget. Expansion of the project will also include more money for worker training, community outreach and state voluntary cleanup programs.

State programs have encouraged many private parties to conduct cleanups, but fear of future EPA Superfund liability remains a deterrent to redevelopment. To address these fears, many states have signed memorandums of agreement with EPA that outlaw EPA interference at sites that have completed state-approved cleanups (barring need for an emergency response such as a contaminant release that warrants federal involvement or disclosure of previously unknown information). Several more states are close to signing similar agreements.

In some states, the brownfields "model" for state-federal cooperation is being used for hazardous waste enforcement programs. EPA staff in Region 9 is taking a cue from state-federal brownfields agreements and applying them to their entire hazardous waste cleanup enforcement program. Region 9 includes Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and approximately 140 tribal nations.

Tom Micks, a special assistant in EPA's Region 9 Superfund Program Development office, says EPA has recognized that states are capable and deserve primary responsibility for hazardous waste cleanup. "We're developing a relationship where states will be in charge of accepting or passing on new sites," Micks said.

All new sites identified as having environmental contamination will be addressed first through the state hazardous waste program. EPA will allow states to take responsibility for cleanup or overseeing a cleanup whenever a state is qualified to do so. "We're not going to get involved unless the state calls us," said Micks.

The states and EPA hope to develop a system to share information and better address high priority sites. "It's a whole new era where EPA and the states can cooperate and take care of business."