Oregon Cleanup Program Top Priorities

Goal: cleanup contaminated property so human health and the environment are protected and contaminated properties are returned to productive use

Things We Do Well

• Risk-based decisions with experienced cleanup staff

• Brownfield redevelopment including PPAs

• Collaborative work with local governments, state agencies, EPA, consultants, prospective purchasers, and responsible parties

• Getting sites to NFA determination

What does the state cleanup law require?

o Standards for cleanup are “risk-based” cleanup levels given current and reasonably likely future land and water uses

o Preference for treatment or removal of hot spots only

o Preference for least cost protective remedy for contamination that is not a hot spot, often institutional or engineering controls

Recent guidance

• Risk-based decision making (look-up numbers)

• Draft bioaccumulation guidance

• All cleanup program guidance documents are available on-line at:http://www.deq.state.or.us/wmc/cleanup/guidelst.htm

Prospective Purchaser Agreements

o Tool DEQ uses to facilitate cleanup and reuse of contaminated property

o Provides limits on purchaser’s environmental liability in exchange for “substantial public benefits” provided by the agreement

o 90 PPAs have been completed

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

88 91 94 97 2000 2003

NFAs

No further action determinations (includes Conditional NFAs)

Challenge 1: Stable funding

• Decreasing Arlington fee revenue• Decreasing grant revenue• Higher operating costs• Emergency Response Program loss of

General Fund ($400,000/year)• Declining HSRAF and OSA fund balances • Amount of cost recovery work varies • What size program can we afford?

What are we doing to address challenge?

• Reduction in program size by 17 FTE

• Increase emphasis on cost recovery projects and meeting fiscal targets

• Focus on high priority work

• Limited orphan funds means emphasis on protecting human health e.g., drinking water

Cleanup/Emergency Response Operating Burn Rate2005-07 Biennium through August, 2006

(200)

(150)

(100)

(50)

0

50

100

150

200

Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06 Apr-06 May-06 Jun-06 Jul-06 Aug-06

Monthly Burn Amount - Dollars in

Thousands

Potential Governor’s Recommended Budget Requests

• Orphan Site Account

• Emergency Response

• Emergency Preparedness

Challenge 2: Transition Planning

• 31% of DEQ’s workforce eligible to retire within 5 years

• Experienced project managers are steady, pragmatic, effective, and valuable in making complex site cleanup decisions

• We need to grow a new generation of environmental professionals – transferring knowledge and culture