DCED, DEP Secretaries Deny Brownfields Will Fund Shell Site Cleanup

In an unusual statement Saturday, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer and Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary C. Alan Walker issued the following on inaccurate reports regarding the site remediation of the Horsehead facility in Monaca, Beaver County.
           “To address any concerns with potential environmental liability, we highlighted the Act 2, Land Recycling Program as a resource that Shell could look into,” Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary C. Alan Walker said. “Act 2 has been a tremendous economic development tool that has helped to remediate hundreds of Brownfields sites throughout the commonwealth for reuse.
           “The report in the Harrisburg news service Capitolwire saying that the state agreed it would pay the cost of site clean-up is false,” Walker said.
           “Act 2 merely provides remediation standards for cleanup of contaminated soil and groundwater,” DEP Secretary Michael Krancer said. “If the standards are met, DEP grants the landowner relief of liability for the contamination they have demonstrated they’ve cleaned up. The private parties involved in any potential transfer or sale of land, not Act 2, determine who would pay for the cost of the cleanup.
           “Act 2 is not a funding program,” Krancer continued.  “But, it would provide the clarity on the remediation necessary to transform an abandoned site with legacy environmental challenges into a new productive site, addressing and erasing those legacy environmental issues.”
          www.Capitolwire.com this morning published a story this morning standing by its story that Senate members and staffers were told the state would pick up cleanup costs for the Shell ethane plant site.