News

Please join us for our next meeting of the Environmental Breakfast Club where the topic will be “Let the Bugs do the Work: EPA Award Winning Airport Water Quality Management”  with Stephen Iachetta , AICP  of the Albany International  Airport  (ALB).

Attorneys from Young/Sommer presented classes on a variety of subjects at the annual New York State Association of Towns meeting recently held in New York City.

• Joe Castiglione and Rob Panasci lectured on “Passing the Buck (or Sharing It): Provisions and Tips for Towns to Save Costs on Some Everyday Municipal Issues.” The course discussed statutory provisions and practical tips to help towns avoid or share the costs of various municipal functions, including inter-municipal agreements, municipal review of certain applications, Freedom of Information Law compliance, sewer and water services, and real property tax certiorari proceedings.
• James Muscato presented a continuing legal education class on the scope of the new Article 10 power plant siting law and its implications for municipalities. In his presentation, Mr. Muscato noted that that 2011 law applies to all types of electric generating facilities with a capacity of 25 megawatts or larger and that this new, lower threshold will likely increase the number of municipalities affected by Article 10. Mr. Muscato also noted that the Article 10 process will significantly alter a municipality’s control over the review process relative to SEQRA.
• Municipalities face a host of environmental compliance obligations arising out of their day-to-day activities. At the Association of Town’s meeting, Dave Brennan, Beth Morss and Kevin Young offered a continuing legal education program entitled “Basic Environmental Compliance: A Primer for Towns.” The class provided an overview of the environmental compliance issues confronting towns, addressing such diverse topics as hazardous, universal and electronic waste handling and disposal, spill reporting and response, petroleum bulk storage compliance, stormwater management and permitting for town facilities, pesticides, boilers and open burning, among others.

The former Packaged Lighting site is a 3.0 ± acre former commercial/industrial property located in the Village of Walden, Orange County, New York. The main structures on the site include a dilapidated and vacant commercial/industrial building and three smaller commercial buildings that have also been vacant since 2008. All site buildings are in various states of disrepair. The dates of construction for the site buildings range from the mid-1800s through the 1960s. The site has a history of industrial use dating back to the mid-1800s.

The primary site contaminant is the chlorinated volatile organic compound (VOC) trichloroethylene (TCE), which was discovered in shallow groundwater at the site during a 2010 Phase II subsurface investigation. Other detected contaminants include concentrations of metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) also attributed to former site uses.

The property was entered into the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program but there was a controversy as to whether the Estate of the former Owner should be treated as a “Volunteer” or “Participant” under the program. After discussions with the Department of Environmental Conservation with regard to the century old industrial use of the property, the presence of historic infrastructure, the lack of clear evidence of releases during the time of ownership by the Estate’s deceased, the fact that an “Estate” is not a “person” for purposes of a CERCLA evaluation [see, 42 USC Section 9601 (21)] and that the beneficiaries of the Estate would all have been eligible for innocent landowner defenses under both CERCLA and the State ECL, the DEC agreed to enter the Estate as a Volunteer.

The Brownfield Cleanup Agreement has been signed and site investigation and interim remedial actions are expected to commence after approval by the DEC of the RI and IRM work plans.

The property will be redeveloped after implementation of the remedial action program and is another good example of how the private sector and the Department work together to cleanup and redevelop contaminated properties.

For more information on the State Brownfield Cleanup Program, contact Dean S. Sommer at (518) 438-9907, ext. 236.