Wisconsin REALTOR® 
July 2001 
Volume 17, Number 10

	Affordable Housing
	Annexation
	Brownfields
	Floodplains
	Impact Fees
	Private Property Rights
	Septic Systems (Comm 83)
	Shoreland Zoning
	Smart Growth
	Use Value Assessment
	Wetland Mitigation
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Archive Land Use Articles

  Wisconsin's 2001-2003 Budget Includes Changes to both the PECFA and Brownfield Programs

By Tom Larson

Wisconsin’s 2001-03 Biennial Budget contains a number of proposed changes to the Petroleum Environmental Compensation Fund Awards (PECFA) and Brownfield programs. Some of the policy provisions have been removed by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance, but will likely be included in the final version of the budget.

PECFA 

Changes to the PECFA program are:

• Definition of “high-cost sites.” This definition includes those sites incurring more than $200,000 in costs that would be eligible for reimbursement by PECFA. It would require that DNR and the Department of Commerce oversee the remedial activities at sites that are high-cost sites as of November 30, 2001, such that the remedial activities are completed for at least 15 percent of these sites each year. 
• Establishment of deadlines for closure of high-cost sites. The proposal would also require cleanup be completed for all these sites no later than December 1, 2006, or 10 years after the completion of site investigation, whichever is later.
• Transfer to Commerce of certain sites that become high-cost sites after November 30, 2001. Sites that become high-cost sites after November 30, 2001, would be transferred to Commerce (if they were not already Commerce sites) if PECFA-eligible costs incurred exceed $400,000, or if remedial action is not complete within seven years of the site investigation report’s completion. Commerce staff would be required to oversee the remedial activities at these sites, such that the remedial activities are completed within three years of the date that costs incurred exceeded $400,000, or the site investigation completion became seven years old.
• Loss of PECFA reimbursement for interest costs for sites not being cleaned up in a timely manner. The budget proposal would limit interest cost reimbursement eligibility. While this doesn’t directly affect DNR management of cleanup sites, it is being discussed because it does affect the sites that DNR oversees, and eligibility may be cut off based on the information DNR provides to Commerce on these sites.

Brownfields

The governor’s budget proposal also continues many of the state programs aimed at encouraging brownfield cleanup and redevelopment. The significant changes proposed in the budget related to brownfields are:

• A recommendation that the sunset on the vehicle environmental impact fee be extended to 2003; this is one of the many revenue sources that go into the Environmental Fund, which funds a range of environmental programs including Brownfields Site Assessment Grants (SAG) and Commerce Brownfield Grants;
• A recommendation that the Site Assessment Grant (SAG) program for local governments be continued; it was also recommended that the program funding be decreased from $1.45 million to $1 million for 2001-03, and that the administration of the SAG program be transferred from DNR to Commerce;
• Funding for the Commerce Brownfields Grant Program be decreased from $12.2 million to $12 million for the biennium;
• A statutory change to allow counties of the City of Milwaukee to transfer tax delinquent brownfields without using the competitive bid process;
• A statutory change that allows all counties to assign judgment of tax deed of a brownfield property without taking title;
• A change to the Voluntary Party Liability Exemption (VPLE) law to clarify assignability of Certificates of Completion (COCs) to new property owners; and
• A statutory change to clarify that off-site liability exemptions may apply to contamination in sediments as well as soil and groundwater.

At the federal level, the U.S. Senate recently approved S. 350, the Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act. The measure provides $200 million for site assessments and grants to states for cleanups. In addition, the bill provides liability relief to innocent parties and contiguous property owners. S. 350 also would limit, but not eliminate, EPA’s ability to require additional cleanup under Superfund after a site has been certified as clean by a state. The bill’s ‘finality’ provision does allow EPA to step in when a potential release of contaminants poses an “imminent and substantial danger” to public health or the environment or contamination crosses state lines. States can also request that EPA intervene. Regardless of the reason for an EPA intervention, consultation with the state is mandated.

Action now turns to the House where there are strong indications that a separate bill will be drafted that strengthens the finality provision and further shifts control from EPA to the states. The House bill will be drafted and debated in the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials during the next few weeks. 

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