Recycling Land: Understanding the Legal Landscape of Brownfield Development

389 Pages·2000·18.945 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Glass Geltman

Recycling Land

Recycling Land
Understanding the Legal Landscape
of Brownfield Development
Elizabeth Glass Geltman
Ann Arbor
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PREss
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2000
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
@ Printed on acid-free paper
2003 2002 2001 2000 432
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written
permission of the publisher.
A elP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Geltman, Elizabeth Glass.
Recycling land: understanding the legal landscape of brownfield development /
Elizabeth Glass Geltman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-472-10919-7 (cloth: alk. paper)
I. Brownfields-Law and legislation-United States. 2. Hazardous waste site
remediation-Law and legislation-United States. 3. Industrial real estate
Environmental aspects-United States. 1. Title.
KF3946 .G45 2000
344.73'0462--dc2l 99-049308
ISBN13 978-0-472-10919-7 (cloth)
ISBN13 978-0-472-02713-2 (electronic)
For my wonderful children
Andy, Jeff and Rachel

Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction: What Is a "Brownfield"? 1
Chapter 2. The Unanticipated Effects of Environmental Law 11
Chapter 3. State Statutes Designed to Aid Brownfields Redevelopment 67
Chapter 4. U.S. EPA Region I: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont 87
Chapter 5. Region II: New Jersey, New York. and Puerto Rico 135
Chapter 6. Region III: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia 153
Chapter 7. Region IV: Alabama, Florida. Georgia, Kentucky,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee 175
Chapter 8. Region V: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio,
and Wisconsin 199
Chapter 9. Region VI: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma,
and Texas 235
Chapter 10. Region VII: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska 249
Chapter 11. Region VIII: Colorado, Montana, North Dakota,
South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming 269
Chapter 12. Region IX: Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, and Nevada 281
Chapter 13. Region X: Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington 297
Chapter 14. Current Federal Brownfields Initiatives 305
Chapter 15. What Will It Take to Fix the Problem? Policy Options 335
Index 361

CHAPTER I
Introduction: What Is a "Brownfield"?
Prior to 1970, transactions concerning the transfer of industrial property were gov
erned by state legislation and common law and not by a web of federal and state
environmental laws and regulations. Before the enactment of Comprehensive En
vironmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980, lit
tle thought was put into environmental matters when transferring property and the
common law doctrine of caveat emptor or "buyer beware" prevailed. 1 Often prop
erty owners sold or transferred property without ever disclosing the presence of
contaminants on-site. Absent certain common law causes of action (i.e., trespass,
nuisance, ultrahazardous activities) prospective purchasers and developers of in
dustrial and commercial property were largely without legal relief for site conta
mination discovered after the property transfer or sale occurred.
In 1980, CERCLA changed the law and gave the government, as well as
current owners and operators of contaminated property, a cause of action against
predecessors as well as against the generators and transporters who placed
the hazardous substances on the property. Over the years since its enactment,
the application of CERCLA's strict? retroactive? and joint and several liabil-
'See generally ELIZABETH GLASS GELTMAN, ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & BUSINESS: 1996 SUPPLE
MENT (1996); ELIZABETH GLASS GELTMAN, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS,
VOL. I & 2 (1994 & 1995 SlIpp.); Recycling Land: Encollraging the Redevelopment oj Contaminated
Property, 10 NATURAL RESOURCES & ENV'T 3 (1996); Elizabeth Ann Glass. The Modem Snake in the
Grass: An Examination oj'Real Estate & Commercial Liability under Supeifund & SARA and Sug
gested Guidelinesj()r the Practitioner, 14 B.C. ENVTL. AFF. L. REV. 381 (1987).
2See New York v. Shore Realty Corp., 759 F.2d 1032, 1042 (2d Cir. 1985) [hereinafter Shore Re
alty]; United States v. Conservation Chern. Co., 619 F. Supp. 162, 186-91 (W.O. Mo. 1985) [hereinafter
Conservation Chern. Co. Ill]; Mardan Corp. v. e.G.e. Music, Ltd., 600 F. SlIpp. 1049, 1094 (D. Ariz.
1984), aff'd, 804 F.2d 1454 (9th Cir. 1986); Bulk Distrib. Ctrs., Inc. v. Monsanto Co., 589 F. Supp.
1437, 1442 (S.D. Fla. 1984) [hereinafter Bulk Distrib. Ctrs.l; Pinole Point Properties, Inc. v. Bethle
hem Steel Corp., 596 F. Supp. 283, 289 (N.D. Cal. 1984); United States v. Conservation Chern. Co.,
589 F. Supp. 59, 62 (WD. Mo. 1984) [hereinafter Conservation Chern. Co. 11; United States v.
NEPACCO, 579 F. Supp. 823, 827 (WD. Mo. 1984). aff'd in part and rev'd in part, 810 F.2d 776 (8th
Cir. 1986) [hereinafter NEPACCO IJ; United States v. Price, 577 F. Supp. 1103, 1114 (D.N.J. 1983):
Ohio ex rei. Brown v. Georgeoff, 562 F. Supp. 1300, 1305 (N.D. Ohio 1983). Congress has implicitly
approved of the judicial interpretation that CERCLA imposes strict liability. See H.R. Rep. No. 253.
99th Cong" 1st Sess., pt. 1 (1985), reprinted in 1986 USCCAN 2835, 2856.
3Sce, e.g., United States v. Waste Indus., Inc., 734 F,2d 159 (4th Cir. 1984); United States v. Shell
Oil Co., 605 F. Supp. 1064 (D. Colo. 1985); Artesian Water Co. v. Government of New Castle County,
605 F. Supp. 1348 (0, Del. 1985); Jones v. Inmont, 584 F. Supp. 1425 (S.D. Ohio 1984); NEPACCO I,