Under the proposed rules for New York City's Local Brownfield Cleanup Program, citizens will be provided with the opportunity to review and comment on Remedial Action Work Plans (cleanup plans) for all cleanup projects. These plans can be highly technical and difficult to understand for the lay citizen. In some cases, community residents express the need for assistance in understanding and evaluating these plans.

To address this need, member organizations of the NYC Brownfield Partnership (Partnership) that are environmental consultants may agree to provide pro-bono expert consultation for community residents and groups that need assistance in reviewing and understanding cleanup plans. Each member firm that agrees to perform counseling services will be included on a master list of counselors maintained by the Partnership. When community assistance is requested of the Partnership, the first member organization on the list will be contacted and will assess for any conflict of interest. If there is no conflict of interest, the member organization will be provided with a copy of the cleanup plan and the name and contact information for the community contact. Review of the document is performed and direct communication made by the member organization with the community member(s).

This process is intended to be confidential. The member organization is asked to provide timely document review and communication with the community contact and candid and impartial counseling. Generally, counseling should begin within one week after receipt of the documents and completion of the conflict of interest review. Once the consultation is completed, the member organization is placed last on the consultation list. The NYC Brownfield Partnership is not an agency of the City of New York. Members organizations provide direct community counseling under the Partnership pro-bono counseling program, independent from the City. 

This program is offered by the Partnership completely free of charge to New York City communities. At the completion of the program, community member(s) may be asked to complete a simple questionairre to provide feedback on the quality of this service, to gauge overall performance, and to solicit recommendations for improvement.

For more information on the Pro-bono Community Counseling Program, log on to the Partnership website at www.brownfieldnyc.org. If you are a community member and would like counseling on a cleanup plan, email the Partnership at info@brownfieldnyc.org. If the project is in the NYC Local Brownfield Cleanup Program, you may also contact us.