Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Brownfields topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Greene County moves to lead environmental review for cement redevelopment, accepts $1.5M EPA brownfield assessment grant
Summary
County staff told the economic development committee it will declare lead agency for a proposed cement-redevelopment project and launch a CEQR process; the board also advanced a $1.5 million EPA Brownfield Coalition Assessment to inventory potentially contaminated sites in Greene and Columbia counties.
Greene County officials on Nov. 17 moved to declare the county lead agency and begin a formal environmental review for a proposed cement-redevelopment project, while separately accepting a $1.5 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Brownfield Coalition Assessment grant to inventory and characterize potentially contaminated sites in Greene and Columbia counties.
James, an economic development staff member, told the committee the county will publish a Notice of Intent to declare lead agency for capital project No. 163 and that consultant EDR will manage the comprehensive environmental impact statement and related CEQR mechanics. He said the county is assembling a list of involved and interested agencies that will have defined response windows under the review process.
On the Brownfield grant, James said the $1,500,000 award (capital project No. 170) funds assessment and due-diligence work — Phase I/II site assessments, inventories and characterization — rather than direct cleanup. In response to board questions, staff confirmed the grant covers assessment costs and the county will need to hire qualified environmental consultants for technical work the planning department cannot perform in-house.
Board members pressed staff on access to privately owned parcels in the project footprint, citing major landowners (referred to by staff as Peckham and related subsidiaries, and a former Heidelberg/Lehigh site). James said he has contacted management at those firms but does not yet have signed access agreements allowing consultants to enter properties for due diligence.
The economic development committee voted to publish the intent and advance the CEQR process and also recorded an approving vote to proceed with establishing the Brownfield capital project, as described by staff. Next steps are publishing the Notice of Intent, completing agency circulation and beginning consultant-led site assessments.
The committee did not adopt cleanup actions; staff and members emphasized that this grant funds assessment and planning work and that any remediation would require separate funding, approvals and contracts.
