City Enacts Brownfields Program

NEW YORK CITY-Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday signed legislation to establish a local program to clean up brownfields. It’s intended to address sites not eligible for inclusion in the state’s 15-year-old brownfield remediation program.

The legislation, approved unanimously by the City Council on April 22, creates the Office of Environmental Remediation to oversee and coordinate city brownfield policy and creates a local brownfield cleanup program, reportedly the first in the US to provide for municipal oversight. The city’s brownfield program will adhere to the state’s standards, and will enable the OER to use the state’s Brownfield Opportunity area grant program to facilitate community planning for areas containing clusters of brownfields.