1. What is a brownfield?
With certain legal exclusions and additions, the term 'brownfield site' means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.
Your community likely has one. Brownfield properties are typically characterized by good locations, near infrastructure, transportation corridors and workforce - the same characteristics that made them desirable locations when they were first developed. Brownfields offer attractive real estate transactions.
2. What is the Land Recycling Program?
Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program is a national leader in voluntary cleanup programs. The program promotes the development of former industrial and commercial properties and the return of those sites to productive use.
The Land Recycling Program encourages private-sector cleanups and reuse of vacant industrial sites, stimulates economic growth, particularly in urban areas, encourages local government partnerships with business and saves the Commonwealth millions of dollars in cleanup costs, and reduces the pressure to develop prime open areas and greenspace.
Three bills - Acts 2, Act 3, and Act 4 of 1995, define the Land Recycling Program. The program sets uniform cleanup standards, standardized review procedures for cleanup plans, releases developers from cleanup liability once standards are met, and protects banks and local economic development agencies from cleanup liability where they did not contribute to pollution. It also provides financial assistance to help the redevelopment process.
For more information on Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program, visit www.dep.state.pa.us, DEP Keyword "Land Recycling".
3. Where can I find more information and contacts for Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program?
For more information on Pennsylvania's Land Recycling Program, click on the link provided below. There you will find a series of Fact Sheets that will provide you with information on the Land Recycling Program, summaries of Acts 2, 3 and 4, information on the Background, Statewide Health and Site-Specific cleanup standard - including the Special Industrial Area process, financial assistance and more.
http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/RECYCLE/Recycle.htm
To contact us directly, you can find contact information for our Central Office or Regional Environmental Cleanup Program Managers on the back page of most of the Fact Sheets or contact by e-mail at landrecycling@state.pa.us.
