The Division of Environmental Quality under its Director Frank Rabauliman held a forum about these topics on Wednesday night at Susupe’s multi-purpose center.
“The goals of the Brownfields program are to reuse or redevelop properties for economic and social development,” DEQ site assessment and remediation manager Ray Masga told the forum which was attended by less than 10 individuals
He said the Brownfields program aims to ensure that the cleanup protects human health and environment and are consistent with future land use.
Masga was accompanied by technical advisor Jim Callier and environment specialist Edward Manibusan.
Quoting the Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act of 2001, Masga said 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.”
The Superfund law, on the other hand, is “a law that asserts liability contamination for simply acquiring the property, regardless of who caused the contamination,” Masga said.
The “All Appropriate Inquiries,” or AAI, is an initiative which landowners or investors should take into consideration before buying or leasing land, Masga said.
The AAI “is a prerequisite to establishing an innocent landowner defense under the Superfund law before acquiring a property,” he added.
This is where the Brownfields Program comes in through DEQ and the Deparment of Public Lands.
“This is to protect yourself from liability,” explained Masga.
Grants awarded for the Brownfields program totaled $400,000 for DEQ while DPL got $750,000, he added.
The grants, he said, will fund the site assessment and remediation program.
Manibusan said the top potential contaminants include tricholoethylene, tetrachloroethylene, vinyl chloride, which is associated with solvents used as degreasers and stain removers, unexploded ordnance, metals, such as lead, PCB, petroleum (gasoline, diesel, oil), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are associated with fuel, and methyl tert-butyl ether, which is associated with gasoline
These may come from garments factories, auto shops and former military sites, DEQ said.
Masga said “there are 41 total potential Brownfields sites on Saipan. Out of the 41, we have land size information on 26 of the sites.”
He added, “We are still working on obtaining the land size information for the rest of the sites. From 26 sites, our total acreage is about 106 acres of the total land size of Saipan is potential Brownfields sites. We refer to them as ‘potential’ sites because they have not been approved Brownfields sites by the [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] and have not gone through Brownfields assessment process yet.”
Masga noted apparent “unsuccessful” initiatives to solicit support from the people.
He said there might be a “misconception of needing money for site activity/assessment and misinterpretation of eligibility determination by the EPA.”
DEQ and DPL are encouraging individuals to coordinate with their offices and request for site assessment and remediation.
