| |
Brownfield Advisory Recommends Seeking Petroleum Grant
(posted June 25)
The Speedway Brownfield Advisory Committee will submit a recommendation
to the Speedway Redevelopment Commission to seek a Brownfield Petroleum
Assessment Grant because the current EPA hazardous assessment grant does
not cover petroleum contamination.
Keith Veal represented the Brownfield consulting team comprised of American
Environmental, BCA and Sustainable Solutions. President Don Fisher of American
Environmental, located at 8500 Georgetown Road, is the brother of SRC member
Ron Fisher. Mr. Fisher abstained from the vote when the SRC awarded the
EPA grant to the consulting team.
Veal said the current EPA's $200,000 grant has now been extended until
September 2009 as well as the state's $30,000 grant.
Veal said all of the parcels that were in the original Speed Zone are on the brownfield list, but not all will be assessed for brownfield issues. The properties will be divided into industrial and non-industrial for brownfield assessments. The industrial properties will be prioritized for assessment.
The priority list will require authorization from EPA for eligibility that
requires filling out the historical uses of the property. The EPA will
determine if the grant money is applicable to be used on the property.
Marathon Oil would not qualify for the hazardous assessment grant because
it is a petroleum company.
The current grant deals with only phase one assessment. The EPA wants the
sites to be tracked from assessment to redevelopment. He said the properties
will be tracked in the EPA's ACRES database. Veal explained the brownfield
properties will be condensed and prioritized based on how the redevelopment
commission wants to move forward. "Site access and acquisition is
always a challenge. Once a real estate transaction enters the brownfield
arena it really gets a little complicated because of liability. Who is
going to accept the liability?"
Sharon Zishka was concerned if there would be enough funds if hazardous
materials are discovered during the 16th Street and Main Street project.
She wanted to know if the current grant would be eligible to use. The road
project continues to move forward. The common wage committee met earlier
in the day to establish a common wage in preparation for a breaking ground
by November or December.
Veal explained if something like that happened to contact IDEM in hopes
that it would be placed on a fast track and the dollars would probably
be available for the project.
Michelle Fink and Linda Bobo of Patriot Engineering and Environmental,
Inc submitted the company's brochure, offering services of environmental
consulting and geo-technical engineering services.
The next meeting is August 19 at 3 pm in the town hall
|
|