Regional planners tell Senate panel Vermont’s brownfield cleanup need far exceeds current funds

Regional planning officials and developers told the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on a Tuesday in February that Vermont’s brownfield assessment and cleanup needs far outstrip current funding and that higher costs for soil testing, hazardous‑material removal and disposal are constraining downtown housing redevelopment.

Tom Kenny, director of community development at the Mount Snow Regional Planning Commission, and David (Dave) Snedeker, director of the Northeastern Vermont Development Association, told the committee the 11 regional planning commissions jointly administer brownfield assessment work across the state and rely on a mix of EPA assessment grants, Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) funds, and a DEC‑managed program. They said regional estimates of identified cleanup costs top roughly $30 million for known sites handled by regional planning commissions alone, not counting DEC or ACCD projects.

Witnesses described the standard brownfield workflow: Phase I environmental site assessments (history and records review) precede Phase II sampling and characterization (soil, soil vapor, plume delineation); if contamination is confirmed, corrective action plans and remediation follow. Tom Kenny and other presenters explained that some common remediation tasks—removing painted urban soils, managing asbestos, trucking and disposing contaminated material at the Coventry landfill—can be expensive. Presenters said transportation and disposal costs are significant drivers where landfill capacity and distance add to expense.

Regional officials said the legislature has provided approximately $1 million per year in state subgrants to regional planning commissions for assessment activities, with nearly all funds allocated to projects. They told senators that the $1 million appropriation generally flows out to local projects (about $990,000 distributed) with limited administration funding retained by commissions. Testimony noted that EPA assessment grants have supplemented state funds but that federal opportunities are uncertain and competitive.

Officials described a range of active projects, including a planned apartment building in downtown Windsor and a former industrial site in St. Johnsbury (a former True Temper location) where towns, nonprofits and for‑profit developers have lined up assessment, grant and loan packages to proceed with cleanup and housing construction. Snedeker said some projects rely on a model in which a nonprofit acquires a site, uses grant funds to remediate, then transfers the site to a for‑profit developer for housing construction.

Regional planners asked the committee for larger state resources. Presenters said they would like $4 million to recapitalize the ACCD revolving loan fund (the program has been depleted) and $2 million for the assessment grants program. Witnesses said grant funding is often more useful to nonprofit developers while low‑interest or forgivable loans in the revolving fund are used to leverage private investment by for‑profit developers.

Committee members asked whether Vermont cleanup standards exceed those in neighboring states and whether state policy drives a large share of remediation costs. Presenters said Vermont standards for soil contamination often are more stringent than those in some other states and agreed to follow up with examples and comparative cost data. Several senators suggested that potential state regulatory or policy changes could reduce cleanup costs, but witnesses cautioned that even with standards aligned to federal baselines, remediation and disposal remain costly and the total need would remain substantial.

No formal action was taken. Committee members asked regional planners and qualified environmental professionals to provide comparative standards and cost estimates and indicated they would consider budget adjustments for both assessment grants and the revolving loan fund during the upcoming budget process.