DIRECTOR'S CORNER
Latest brownfields success highlights program’s benefits
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has facilitated more than 50 brownfield redevelopment projects since the agency’s Brownfields Land Renewal Program began in 2003. The latest brownfield success story is a prime example of how communities and the environment benefit from this program.
A particle board manufacturing plant in Waverly, Virginia, shut down in 2003. With a population of about 2,500 people, the loss of 60 jobs was significant for this Southside Virginia town, located just east of Interstate 95 in Sussex County.
Local developers wanted to reopen the plant, but there were environmental concerns at the facility. The plant was considered a brownfield because environmental contamination at the site raised questions with the prospective purchasers.
Early in 2005, the developers applied to DEQ’s brownfields program for a liability protection letter. This letter protects a buyer or landowner of a brownfield from being held liable for past releases at the site and requires the applicant to exercise due care to protect human health and the environment in the future.
DEQ issued the letter in January 2005, and the environmental questions were addressed in the spring. By July 2005, the plant had reopened, 60 residents were employed, and the facility had shipped its first particle board order.
The reopening of the plant was a success for the environment, the town, and the plant’s employees and buyers.
There are many sites around Virginia that are like the Waverly plant, neglected industrial or commercial properties where real or perceived contamination prevents their redevelopment. The good news is that there are also just as many opportunities for environmental contamination to be cleaned up and for communities and businesses to benefit economically.
This is possible because of the Virginia Brownfield Restoration and Land Renewal Act of 2002, which promotes the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields. The provision makes the difference for sites that otherwise may not be cleaned up.
Since the summer of 2003, an estimated $700 million or more has been reinvested within Virginia in capital projects related to brownfields redevelopment. Thousands of part-time jobs and hundreds of full-time jobs have been created, hundreds of jobs have been saved and more than 50 contaminated sites have been addressed. Improved morale within communities from seeing a blighted area reborn is an immeasurable but equally important benefit from the redevelopment of brownfields.
This success is in part due to the unique features of Virginia’s brownfields program. Virginia, for example, is the only state that has amnesty or protection from civil penalties and administrative fines for qualifying owners that make voluntary disclosures of brownfield sites. Participants in the program also assess their own eligibility, which significantly accelerates discussions between buyers and sellers.
The program's web site also helps connect buyers and landowners, and provides a list of consultants and other business that could assist applicants through an online “marketplace.” In addition, Virginia's program has a coordinator with no regulatory authority, giving a high level of comfort for customers to discuss their project freely.
It is the all-around positive outcome of brownfield redevelopment that makes the process so attractive to investors, environmental protection officials and communities. And it is Virginia’s unique take on this program that makes it so successful throughout the Commonwealth.