Regulation of Brownfields
Posted on:3/30/2006
| In the United States, investigation and cleanup of contaminated sites is largely regulated by state environmental agencies in cooperation with the US Environmental Protection Agency. |
Many of the most important provisions on liability relief are contained in state codes that can differ significantly from state to state. The EPA, together with local and national government, can provide technical assistance and some funding for assessment and cleanup of designated sites, as well as tax incentives for cleanup that is not paid for outright (specifically, cleanup costs are fully deductible in the year they are incurred.
In the United Kingdom, brownfield land and contaminated land are seen as discrete concepts in terms of Government policy and the law, though of course a given piece of land may be both at once. The more formal term for brownfields is "previously developed land", the definition of which talks of it being vacant, derelict or underused. It may not have been industrial in the past, and it may or may not be contaminated. The Government has a target that 60% of new housing development must be on "PDL", and the overall aim in this crowded country is to recycle PDL in preference to taking greenfields sites. In England, Government agencies like the Regional Development Agencies and English Partnerships help secure and support the regeneration of run-down areas including those hit by industrial decline and dereliction, and market conditions. Contaminated land is dealt as a separate issue, both through the development control system (concerned to ensure contaminated land is made suitable for its new use) and by Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (which looks at land in the context of its current use). Both regimes are concerned with the risk that the presence of contaminants may pose to human health or the environment, and ensuring that risk is identified properly and managed down to acceptable levels. Under Part IIA, each local authority must inspect its area for "contaminated land" as defined by the Act, and where it is found must secure its remediation, with the original polluters first in line to pay where these can be found, in line with the 'Polluter Pays Principle'.
Brownfield land that has been left to naturally re-vegetate is often of high nature conservation interest - much more so than equivalent agricultural land - due to the presence of early successional habitats. A number of invertebrate species are associated with such sites, for example the dingy skipper butterfly, and these have suffered dramatic declines in recent years due to losses in brownfield sites due to development and regeneration.
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