Aiken County Brownfields




Frequently Asked Questions What is a Brownfield? What is a Brownfields Assessment Project? If you are a property owner, what does it mean? If you are a property owner, why would you want to participate? If I am a property owner and I participate and environmental contamination is found, what does that mean? If contamination is found who will pay for the remediation? The EPA and DHEC are involved, what does that mean? If contamination is found, and the remediation planning suggests a prohibitively expensive clean up, then what? What if redevelopment opportunities are not identified? I am an interested citizen, how can I participate? What is a Brownfield? EPA defines brownfields as all "Real property, where the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse, of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant." What is a Brownfields Assessment Project? There are hundreds of brownfields assessment projects across the country with each funded initially at $200,000 over a two-year period by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The funds are to be used to bring together community groups, investors, lenders, developers, and other affected parties to address site assessment and cleanup planning issues. If you are a property owner, what does it mean? Participation in the Aiken Brownfield Program by the private sector is totally voluntary. The program helps move properties towards redevelopment by conducting site assessments and removing the risk/uncertainty associated with the property. The County will now be able to pay for site assessment activities on properties where the current owner or prospective purchaser is unwilling and/or unable. Program participation is particularly helpful where a property is perceived to have an environmental problem, but one does not actually exist. If the community identifies your property as a potential Brownfield site you do NOT have to participate. In addition, not all properties are eligible for participation under the program, and funding is limited for cleaning up and redeveloping these properties. If you are a property owner, why would you want to participate? Participation in a Brownfields project brings resources to the property owners and developers that facilitate re-development. The project can help clarify environmental concerns and plan redevelopment to address real or perceived environmental issues. If your site is selected, project-provided services might include (1) Phase I and Phase II Environmental Assessments and/or (2) Clean-up/redevelopment Planning. If I am a property owner and I participate and environmental contamination is found, what does that mean? If your site has environmental contamination, being selected by the Brownfield project provides you one of the best possible working scenarios with the EPA and DHEC. Brownfields Assessment Projects are NOT a regulatory action. The project may assist in identifying favorable remediation alternatives. If environmental contamination is found, the project may assist with development of remediation and redevelopment plans. If contamination is found who will pay for the remediation? If cleanup is required in order to sell the property other funds are available that are either grants or low interest loans. The existing Brownfields project cannot pay for remediation. In all scenarios, the private sector typically has the lead for site clean up unless the public sector already owns the property. The EPA and DHEC are involved, what does that mean? The Brownfield Assessment Project is NOT a regulatory action. These projects ARE a mechanism/tool to promote economic development. EPA involvement is typically limited to review of work plans and general program oversight. DHEC involvement is typically sought where the buyer is interested in obtaining environmental liability protection through the Voluntary Cleanup Contract Program. If contamination is found, and the remediation planning suggests a prohibitively expensive clean up, then what? The program does not require a potential buyer to commit to performing prohibitively expensive cleanup. One of the primary goals of the program is to assist in determining if a problem exists and what level of cleanup is needed. If significant contamination is found and there is a threat to human health and the environment (most all of these sites have already been identified) and the responsible party is unable to perform the cleanup, EPA and/or DHEC can perform the cleanup. Also, if the contamination happened before the current owner owned the site, then other options to pay for the cleanup exist. What if redevelopment opportunities are not identified? Although specific redevelop opportunities do not necessarily need to be spelled out in detail before some work is performed, a general plan for generating redevelopment opportunities is typically needed to obtain EPA approval to spend grant funds on assessment work. In cases where redevelopment alternatives are not identified, perhaps a Greenspace can be developed where the building currently exists. I am an interested citizen, how can I participate? Interested individuals and community groups can participate in site reuse planning activities. Throughout the grant period, the County will host public meetings and other forums to receive community input. Announcements of future community meetings will be posted on this site's home page and circulated through the local media. Attend one of these meetings to learn more about the project and provide your input on the future reuse of the assessed properties.								Have a question? If you have a question that is not answered here, visit the U.S. EPA Brownfields web site (www.epa.gov/brownfields), see the About section or contact us for more information. Project Status Wondering what the project has accomplished so far or what activities are coming up next? See our project status page. Check it out...
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