E&R develops and maintains relationships with municipalities; developers and private industries and can assist in bringing these burdened properties back into productive use with significant benefits for the municipalities, developers, and owners. New York State Brownfields programs offer significant tax incentives for private developers, substantial funding programs for municipalities and liability relief for owners and responsible parties.

Brownfields, What are they?

New York State Brownfields Law

Projects Portfolio:

General Cable Site:

BEFORE

AFTER

E&R provided environmental investigations, remedial work plan development, site remediation, closure reporting and negotiations with the NYSDEC to obtain a No Further Action for the privately held properties. E&R also assisted in the transfer of the property upon remediation to the City for future development. Full Story

Foster Paper Site:

BEFORE

AFTER

E&R provided environmental investigations, remedial work plan development, site remediation, closure reporting and negotiations with the NYSDEC to obtain a No Further Action for the properties. Full Story

Chase Interiors Site:

BEFORE

AFTER

E&R provided environmental investigations, remedial work plan development, site remediation, closure reporting and negotiations with the NYSDEC to obtain a No Further Action for the property. In addition E&R also assisted in design and development and construction of new manufacturing facility. Full Story

Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties takes development pressures off undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment

NYS BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM - GENERAL CABLE- ROME, NEW YORK-

Eisenbach and Ruhnke Engineering, P.C. (E&R) has assisted in the General Cable project by working with the private land owner who acquired the property in 1970 for back taxes. The acquisition, like most, was before the punitive environmental legislation of the 1980's was put into effect. During the 1980's the presence of environmental contaminants were discovered on the property by potential buyers during the Due Diligence on the property. Government agencies were soon alerted and began enforcement on the land Owner.

An agreement was structured between the NYSDEC, City of Rome and the Owner to remediate the site and promote redevelopment in this blighted part of town. The agreement consisted of transferring a significant portion of the property to the City of Rome where a new road was to be constructed with public money. The remaining portions of the property were retained and remediated by the Owner.

The agreement consisted of the City remediating the portion of the property where the road was to be installed, and the Owner was to remediate his remaining property. The Owner was able to transfer the portion with the most significant amount of contamination to the City for the new road. The remaining sections of the privately held property where remediated according to the legal obligations of the work plan requirements and then transferred to the City for future development.

E&R provided environmental investigations, remedial work plan development, site remediation, closure reporting and negotiations with the NYSDEC to obtain a No Further Action letter for properties. E&R also initiated the transfer of the property upon remediation to the City for future development.

EPA BROWNFIELDS GRANT PROGRAM AND NYSDEC VOLUNTARY REMEDIAL AGREEMENT - FOSTER PAPER - UTICA, NEW YORK

In1998 E&R successfully obtained a $200,000 Brownfields Pilot Showcase Grant from the EPA for the City of Utica. E&R was then retained by the City to assess the environmental conditions and remediation options for the vacant Foster Paper industrial site located within the City. E&R developed all required plans for the grant program and effectively completed the environmental assessment and site investigation for the site. Upon conclusion of the assessments, the site was remediated under a voluntary remedial agreement with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and a No Further Action (NFA) letter was provided by the Department indemnifying the volunteer and future owners from any additional environmental liabilities. The City set a precedent for the local real estate market and sold the 7-acres of Brownfields for $250,000 dollars to an international company. The property has since been developed with a 98,000-square manufacturing facility and has started a development growth in this area.

Brownfields Law
The new law establishes in statute a new Title 14 of Article 27 of the ECL that sets forth the requirements for participation, agreements and work plans in the BCP.
The goal of this new program is to enhance private-sector cleanups of brownfields and to reduce development pressure on "greenfields". This new program now provides parties with the predictability and finality they need in order to make cleaning up a contaminated property a sound investment.
Under the BCP, cleanups will continue to fully protect public health and the environment based on statutory remedy selection criteria.

NYSDEC HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE REMEDIATION AND REDEVELOPMENT "CHASE INTERIOR SITE" FALCONER, NY

Eisenbach and Ruhnke Engineering, P.C. designed and supervised the environmental remediation and restoration of the Chase Interiors Inactive Hazardous Waste Site. Once the site was remediated under a voluntary cleanup agreement, the site was redeveloped by E&R for Dowcraft Corporation. The property was redeveloped with construction of a 130,000 square foot manufacturing facility. The services provided included environmental testing, monitoring, oversite of remediation, reporting to New York State, design of the new facility, assisting in not only bidding the construction but also in purchasing all other materials for the facility.

The overall cost of the project is $5,200,000.