Unlocking Trapped Value From Contaminated Properties

This case study focuses on laws and policies used in Baraboo, Wisconsin land redevelopment projects, including the state laws that regulate cleanup of environmentally contaminated properties, the authorizing laws behind the projects, and the policies incorporated into the projects. It does this by highlighting two successful land reuse projects in the City of Baraboo, Wisconsin: the Veolia Property and the Alliant Property. During the redevelopment of these brownfield sites, Baraboo sought remedy to environmental contamination and maintain the community’s health. Two grant programs assisted Baraboo in achieving these goals: the Wisconsin Department of Commerce Grant and the Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Grant. The Brownfields Grant provided Baraboo the ability to conduct health monitoring with assistance from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. These redevelopment projects in Baraboo demonstrate successful interagency and interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as the role of law and policy in removing environmental hazards to reuse properties and promote human health by reducing exposure to environmental contaminants. Baraboo used these laws and policies to revitalize brownfields and account for community health in the process. Other localities and states can use Baraboo’s experience as a model to redevelop their own contaminated properties and promote environmental health through the use of their jurisdiction’s laws and policies.

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Hemisphere Development LLC: Betting on a Brownfield

Kellogg School of Management Cases ◽

10.1108/case.kellogg.2016.000148 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Denise Akason ◽

William M. Bennett

Keyword(s):

Investment Decision ◽

Core Competencies ◽

Investment Strategy ◽

List Type ◽

Brownfield Redevelopment ◽

Firm Finance ◽

Contaminated Properties

The case puts students in the shoes of Todd Davis, founder and CEO of a boutique brownfield redevelopment firm, Hemisphere Development, in 2010. Davis is wrestling with decisions and processes surrounding the potential acquisition and redevelopment of the former Delphi Automotive plant in Columbus, Ohio. When making the investment decision, Davis (and students) must consider various factors: What is Hemisphere's implicit investment strategy, and what are the firm's core competencies? How should the firm finance this transaction to achieve an acceptable return? Practice creatively structuring and financing unique transactions Describe the importance of baseline analysis in dealing with contaminated or potentially contaminated properties, and understand that the timing of baseline analysis can be crucial in determining the viability of a transaction State the importance of each type of constituent in public-private transactions Recognize the benefits of specialized/niche expertise in deal-makin

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Current practices underestimate environmental exposures to methamphetamine: inhalation exposures are important

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology ◽

10.1038/s41370-020-00260-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 45-52

Author(s):

Jackie Wright ◽

Bob Symons ◽

Jonathon Angell ◽

Kirstin E. Ross ◽

Stewart Walker

Keyword(s):

Analytical Methods ◽

Direct Contact ◽

Current Practice ◽

Inhalation Exposure ◽

Dermal Absorption ◽

Residential Homes ◽

Exposure Pathway ◽

Residential Properties ◽

Contaminated Properties ◽

Exposure Routes

AbstractCurrent practice for determining the exposure to methamphetamine in contaminated homes relies on the analysis of surface wipe sample to address direct contact exposures. The movement of methamphetamine into the air phase, and the potential for inhalation exposures to occur within residential homes contaminated from former clandestine manufacture or smoking of methamphetamine has been generally poorly characterised and understood. All available risk-based guidelines for determining safe levels of methamphetamine in residential properties do not include any consideration of the inhalation pathway as an exposure route. This study showed that methamphetamine can readily move from contaminated materials in a home into the air phase. This movement of methamphetamine into the air phase provides both an exposure pathway and a mechanism for the transfer of methamphetamine throughout a property. The inhalation exposure pathway has the potential to result in significant intake of methamphetamine, adding to dermal absorption and ingestion exposure routes. Guidelines that are established for the assessment of methamphetamine contaminated properties that ignore inhalation exposures can significantly underestimate exposure and result in guidelines that are not adequately protective of health. This study also demonstrates that sampling methamphetamine in air can be undertaken using commercially available sorption tubes and analytical methods.

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Brownfields in Purple States: An Analysis of the Equity of Redevelopment Outcomes Under the Brownfield Program and Voluntary Cleanup Programs in Colorado and Ohio

Public Works Management & Policy ◽

10.1177/1087724x18767157 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 160-194

Author(s):

Kelsey Tharp ◽

Nicholas Peter Guehlstorf

Keyword(s):

Urban Sprawl ◽

Logistic Regression Model ◽

Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽

State Level ◽

Multinomial Logistic Regression Model ◽

Policy Problem ◽

Property Owners ◽

Lower Likelihood ◽

Voluntary Cleanup Programs ◽

Contaminated Properties

The proliferation of underutilized, derelict, and contaminated properties following a nationwide decline of industrial production has created a unique policy problem. Powerful liability schemes under Superfund made property owners, developers, and lenders hesitant to engage in transactions involving real estate that is contaminated or perceived as contaminated. Adoption of Federal and state policy to address these “Brownfields” in the 1990s and 2000s has attempted to promote redevelopment by limiting liability of involved parties and providing grant funding. This research hypothesizes that “environmental justice communities” have significantly lower likelihood of receiving benefit-maximizing redevelopment projects under both Federal and state-level voluntary cleanup programs. A multinomial logistic regression model considering past use of the site, socioeconomic status of the surrounding census tract and its composite urban sprawl score, and Republican control of the district containing the brownfield were used to assess the probability of a hierarchy of redevelopment outcomes.

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Public Incentives, Market Motivations, and Contaminated Properties: New Public Management and Brownfield Liability Reform

Public Administration Review ◽

10.1111/puar.12305 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 75 (2) ◽

pp. 252-261 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Adam Eckerd ◽

Roy L. Heidelberg

Keyword(s):

Public Management ◽

New Public Management ◽

New Public ◽

Contaminated Properties

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Brownfields: What the CFO must know about cleaning up these contaminated properties

Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance ◽

10.1002/jcaf.3970090307 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 67-78

Author(s):

Sarah D. Stanwick ◽

Peter A. Stanwick

Keyword(s):

Contaminated Properties

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Superfund and Brownfields: Evol ution of Federal Cleanup Law i n the US

Journal for European Environmental & Planning Law ◽

10.1163/187601006x00281 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 258-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Douglas C. MacCourt

Keyword(s):

Basic Function ◽

Contaminated Sites ◽

Environmental Response ◽

Public Concern ◽

State Laws ◽

Hazardous Waste Sites ◽

Us Congress ◽

The Us ◽

History Of ◽

Contaminated Properties

AbstractThe Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, also known as CERCLA or 'Superfund' was enacted by the US Congress in 1980 in response to public concern over the effect of abandoned hazardous waste sites. Perhaps most well known as the US Environmental Protection Agency's primary authority for responding to contaminated properties, CERCLA created one of the broadest liability schemes in the history of US civil law. Following the federal government's lead, most of the 50 US states enacted their own cleanup laws in the 1980's. The states then took the lead in amending those laws in the 1990's in response to the brownfields redevelopment movement. Both CERCLA and the state laws patterned after CERCLA focus on liability for owners, operators and others associated with contaminated sites, the process for investigating and cleaning up those sites, and the contribution or recovery of cleanup costs from liable parties. This article briefly summarizes the basic function of CERCLA and how the 2002 Brownfields Amendments to CERCLA changed federal cleanup law in the US.

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