Establishing Standards for the Assessment and Decontamination Cleanup of Opioid-Contaminated Properties

A case is described where a property was used as a clandestine opioid (fentanyl and carfentanil) processing, handling, pill pressing, and packaging site. These activities resulted in potentially lethal opioid residue contamination which remained after police intervention. This case details the environmental assessment and sampling procedures, findings, and decontamination processes that were used to mitigate the property. A safe re-occupancy criterion was established and used as the basis for adoption of a state standard for residential cleanup in California. Regulatory hurdles and key lessons are presented so that others may consider development of similar public health policy. Involvement of public health departments in the assessment and cleanup of sites contaminated with opioids and other illicit drugs and the development of standards for cleanup and worker protection is an important and yet often overlooked public health measure.

Brown Spots on the Apple

The term “brown gentrification” describes the selective remediation and repurposing of toxic properties for profit. This chapter focuses on brownfield cleanup programs, which incentivize private developers to clean up and repurpose contaminated properties, especially those located in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Such programs initially appeared to address some of the most pernicious environmental problems facing communities of color. However, because cleanups were predicated on private investment, they inevitably favored neighborhoods where property values were set to rise. Conversely, hitching toxic cleanup to real estate development left non-gentrifying neighborhoods with no mechanism for remediating contaminated properties. By outsourcing the cleanup of contaminated properties to private investors, brown gentrification thus subordinated public health to property values. Moreover, it redistributed environmental burdens in a way that further concentrated them in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.

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

Current 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.

Revitalizing Brownfields Using Law and Policy: Lessons in Process from Baraboo, Wisconsin

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.

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

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.

Hemisphere Development LLC: Betting on a Brownfield

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