ABSTRACT
In 1995, th e re w e re m any chan g es th a t o ccu rred , b o th a t th e s ta te and F ed era l levels reg a rd in g po lic ies and a ttitu d es to w a rd s effo rts to red ev e lo p co n tam in ated industria l and com m ercia l p ro p ertie s . P rio r to th is tim e, in n o cen t o w n ers and p ro sp ec tiv e p u rch ase rs o f po ten tia lly co n tam in ated p ro p e rtie s w e re co n fro n ted w ith a generally inflexible and u n resp o n siv e a ttitu d e o n th e p a r t o f th e s ta te and F ed era l agencies. T h e p o sitio n th en w as if y ou are an o w n er o r a p ro sp ec tiv e p u rch a se r and th e site in q u estio n has env ironm en ta l co n tam in atio n y o u w ill share th e responsib ility fo r c lean ing it u p no m a tte r w h a t th e cost. T h is w as tru e w h e th e r y o u w ere respo n sib le fo r th e co n tam in atio n o r no t. T h is resu lted in significant h ard sh ip s on th e p a r t o f innocen t lan d o w n ers and d ev e lo p e rs th a t g o t invo lved w ith sites th a t sh o w ed g rea t p o ten tia l fo r site red ev elo p m en t, h o w ev e r tu rn ed in to financial b o tto m less pits. T h is inflexible and u n resp o n siv e a ttitu d e on th e p a r t o f th e s ta te and F ed era l agencies significantly co n trib u ted to th e re lu c tan ce o f p ro p e rty o w n ers to co m e fo rw ard and d iscuss p ossib le co n tam in atio n issues th a t w e re po ten tia lly asso c ia ted w ith sites th ey ow ned . I t also co n trib u ted to th e re lu c tan ce o f p ro sp ec tiv e p u rch ase rs and in v esto rs to g e t invo lved w ith red ev elo p m en t p ro jec ts w h e re env ironm en ta l co n tam in a tio n w as an issue.
