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Managing Environmental Liability - Business Transactions and Brownfield Redevelopment - Looseleaf
Managing Environmental Liability - Business Transactions and Brownfield Redevelopment - Electronic
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STATE ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
RESTRICTING PROPERTY TRANSFERS
§ 7.01 State Property Transfer Statues
A handful of states have enacted property transfer statutes, which prohibit the
transfer of commercial properties until the state has been notified and an inspection
and cleanup, if necessary, has been performed. Other states have passed disclosure
statutes that simply require sellers or transferors to inform prospective buyers or
lessees where hazardous wastes were managed on the property and sometimes also
to file notices of any releases of hazardous substances in local land records.
§ 7.02 New Jersey Industrial Site Recovery Act
In 1983, the New Jersey legislature enacted its landmark Environmental Cleanup
Responsibility Act (‘‘ECRA’’) which was designed to achieve expeditious
cleanups and to shift the burden of restoring industrial or commercial property to
the parties responsible for the contamination. ECRA required owners and operators
of industrial establishments associated with the generation, storage or disposal of
hazardous substances to investigate and remediate their facilities before the operations
could be transferred or closed.1
Initially, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (‘‘DEP’’)
severely underestimated the number of transactions that would become subject to
the law. Also, the interim regulations promulgated by the DEP failed to adequately
describe the transactions covered by ECRA and caused the ECRA staff to develop a
number of unwritten internal policies to fill in the gaps. After several administrative
attempts to streamline the program, the New Jersey legislature substantially
amended the law in 1993 and renamed it the Industrial Site Recovery Act
(‘‘ISRA’’) in 1993. ISRA codified some of the DEP policies, but in other cases
departed significantly from DEP or ECRA practice.
Chapter 7: State Environmental Laws Restricting Property Transfers
7.01 State Property Transfer Statutes
7.02 New Jersey Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA)
7.03 Triggering ISRA
7.04 Expanded Discussion of Particular ISRA Transactions
7.05 ISRA Application Procedures
7.06 Initial Notice
7.07 Transferring Ownership or Operation Prior to ISRA Completion
7.07A De Minimis Generator Exemption
7.08 Expedited Compliance Options
7.08A Letters of Non-Applicability (‘‘LNA’’)
7.08B Authorization Letter
7.09 Penalties
7.10 Connecticut Transfer of Industrial Establishments
7.11 Application Procedures
7.12 Enforcement
7.13 Illinois Responsible Property Transfer Act (IRPTA)
7.14 Indiana Responsible Property Transfer Act
7.15 Iowa Environmental Quality Act
7.16 Missouri Abandoned or Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites Act
7.17 State Disclosure Statutes
7.17A State Statutes Requiring Deed Disclosures
Lawrence P. Schnapf is Principal of Schnapf LLC. He has 25 years of national environmental experience with Fortune 500 corporations and a number of major New York-based law firms. Larry primarily concentrates on environmental issues associated with corporate, real estate and brownfield transactions, commercial lending, distressed debt, bankruptcy and workouts. He has extensive experience with brownfield redevelopment and financing, negotiating environmental insurance policies for business and real estate transactions, performing environmental due diligence for complex business transactions.
He has also written numerous articles on environmental law, is a contributing author for several chapters of "Brownfield Practice and Law: The Cleanup and Redevelopment of Contaminated Properties" published by Matthew Bender. He was also a contributing author for "The Law Of Environmental Justice" published by the American Bar Association and the Matthew Bender "Environmental Law Practice Guide." He is also the author of "Managing Environmental Liability in Transactions and Brownfield Redevelopment" published by Juris Publishing.
Larry is the co-chair of the New York State Bar Association's Hazardous Site Remediation Committee, co-chair of the NYSBA brownfield task force and a board member of the Board of the NYC Partnership of Brownfield Practitioners. He is also the chair of the Brownfield Committee Force of the Environmental Business Association of New York.
He is Chair of the ABA Section of Business Law Committee on Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law. He is a vice chair of the Environmental Transactions, Audits and Brownfield Committee; and Special Committee on Disclosure of the ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. He is also a member of the board of BNA’s Environmental Due Diligence Guide.
Larry is also a member of the ASTM 1527 Task Group, Phase II Legal Work Group, Co-Chair of the legal sub-committee for the ASTM Vapor Intrusion Task Group, a member of the ASTM Appropriate Care/Continuing Obligations Task Group and Building Energy Performance Disclosure Task Group.
Larry is an adjunct professor of environmental law at New York Law School where he teaches “Environmental Issues in Business Transactions” and “Environmental Law and Policy”. He is also on the faculty of the Center for Christian Studies at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church where he teaches “The Bible and the Environment.”
He is listed in the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers 2008 and 2009, the 2009 Madison’s Who’s Who of Executives and Professionals, and The International Who’s Who of Environmental Lawyers 2008 and 2009, and Chambers USA 2009 Client Guide of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
You can visit the web page of the Schnapf Environmental Law Center at http://www.environmental-law.net/
