​In which Winefield & Associates, Inc. solves the California environmental agency report backlog dilemma and dearth of No Further Action letters in 12 minutes

In this podcast Winefield & Associates outlines how environmental agencies in other states manage to close significantly more sites per year than California environmental agencies. Other industrial states such as New Jersey use Licensed Site Remediation Programs (LSRPs) to streamline project management of tens of thousands of contaminated projects per year. If an LSRP program was enacted in our state, many more sites could be transformed to beneficial use. New Jersey has averaged about 5,000 environmental project closures per year. California closes less than 200 environmental projects per year.
 
Here are some astounding statistics from an LSRP program, which Winefield & Associates hopes CalEPA scrutinizes and uses as a model for a pilot study:

• https://www.nj.gov/dep/srp/ 
• https://www.nj.gov/dep/srp/srra/stakeholder/cvp_srag/2021/cvp_srag_metrics_through_may.pdf

This Brownfield Braintrust Podcast episode is NOT for Winefield & Associates friends and colleagues who have backgrounds in brownfield redevelopment. A sustainability organization called bUneke (as in “Be Unique”) interviewed Matt Winefield to discuss how Winefield & Associates brings blighted properties to beneficial uses. This episode is a folksy interview for those wanting to learn the basics about transforming dirty dirt and revitalizing environmentally challenged sites. We hope you enjoy.

Matt Winefield of Winefield & Associates, Inc. and the Brownfield Braintrust Podcast had the privilege of interviewing Sean Sherlock, who discussed environmental justice (EJ) and its applicability towards brownfield projects. Sean is an Environmental Partner at Snell & Wilmer, and he has been following proposed EJ laws that are being promulgated at both the state and federal levels. You don’t want to miss this discussion! The podcast reviews EJ impacts on such facets as public participation, agency oversight, and remediation in disadvantaged communities. Sean also provides resources and tools for investors and developers to navigate EJ requirements.

In this second installment of the Brownfield Braintrust Podcast, Matt Winefield discusses ten flaws with the Cal-EPA 0.03 attenuation factor (AF) in the Draft Vapor Intrusion Guidance Document. All parties agree that the AF should be based on best available science. Best available science dictates that Cal-EPA must use the AF developed in the 2020 DTSC attenuation factor study, which utilized California data exclusively and has been extensively peer reviewed.

Follow the Brownfield Braintrust Podcast at: ​https://anchor.fm/brownfield-braintrust
Find Matt Winefield on LinkedIn at: ​https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattwinefield/

Matt Winefield interviews Ignacio Dayrit, Director of Programs for the Center for Creative Land Recycling. CCLR is the oldest and only national non-profit working exclusively to champion land cleanup and reuse. It is an independent, third-party force for the sustainable and equitable reuse of land with expertise in cleaning up and redeveloping vacant or contaminated properties, sometimes referred to as "brownfields.” CCLR offers training and technical assistance for communities working to turn this land around, and it advocates for policy change at the federal, state and local levels to make land reuse possible in more places.