New York City has a long and rich history of industrial activity since its founding over 300 years ago. Former industrial land uses and the common practice of creating usable land by filling lowlands have created brownfield sites in many communities throughout our city. Formally defined, brownfields are properties that are vacant or underutilized and whose reuse is complicated by the presence, or possible presence, of contamination. Fortunately, our generation has fully recognized the environmental legacy of brownfield sites and has begun to take steps to correct it.

New York City is now in the early stages of a brownfield cleanup revolution. This revolution began at the end of the 1980s when the creation of new brownfields was largely ended by new laws that prohibited indiscriminate dumping of wastes and halted spills from thousands of petroleum and chemical storage tanks. The revolution continued in the 1990s and early 2000s with the emergence of regulatory programs designed to clean up brownfields, including the state Voluntary Cleanup Program in 1994 and the Brownfield Cleanup Program and Brownfield Opportunity Area Grant Program in 2003.

With the introduction of PlaNYC by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in April 2007, New York City is taking the next step in the city's brownfield cleanup revolution. That plan, the city's new blueprint for sustainability in the 21st century, identified 11 initiatives to address brownfields in NYC, including the creation of a new Office of Environmental Remediation (OER, to be housed in the Mayor's Office of Operations) and a new city-run brownfield cleanup program. This new office was established in June, 2008. We are currently assembling the city brownfield cleanup program, the country's first municipal cleanup program, and startup is expected in early 2009. These two bold actions will use city resources to greatly accelerate the cleanup of New York City's brownfields.

The new cleanup program, to be called the New York City Local Brownfield Cleanup Program (LBCP), is designed to oversee cleanup of brownfield properties with light to moderate levels of contamination, including historical fill sites. The program will work closely with existing state cleanup programs. A cooperative effort by OER and the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene will insure that all cleanups are identical to those achieved by state brownfield programs and will be protective of both public health and the environment.

To expand the reach of the new city cleanup program, OER will provide roughly $3 million in incentives for brownfield projects in each of the next four years. A 'green team' of city experts will work with brownfield property owners and developers to assist in the cleanup process. OER staff will provide a 'one-stop remediation program' and will work to simplify and speed the cleanup process and eliminate duplicative efforts. The program has been designed to provide the highest level of quality and predictability through the use of templates for program milestone reports and work plans, and extensive training for environmental consultants, developers and the community.

To promote community protection, OER will introduce the Community Protection Statement to all of our cleanup plans. This new element will include the highest level of community protection available and will explain all of the efforts in simple, easy to understand language to ease review by our citizens. A pro-bono community consultation program will provide communities with prompt and free consultation advice on cleanup plans by local cleanup experts.

Our new cleanup program with be the first fully sustainable cleanup program in the nation and will introduce sustainability as a remedial selection criteria. Cleanup plans will include a Sustainability Statement that describes efforts taken during the remedial process to further the city's sustainability goals.

Finally, we are excited about the initiation of a partnership by local brownfield stakeholders, including industry and community based organizations, designed for the delivery of a suite of benefits to our local communities. New programs including an unskilled worker-training program and brownfield scholarship and internship programs, will bring valuable benefits to our communities.

Over the coming months, we will be building our new office and the services it will provide. We welcome you to read about these new services on our website and to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.

Sincerely,

Daniel Walsh