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Open House “Q & A” on New Vapor Intrusion Guidance

Posted on by elisabethkuisis

The Remediation and Redevelopment Program will host a two-hour “Q & A” regarding the agency’s new guidance on vapor intrusion. The open house event will take place on Tuesday, August 29, in Madison, and via teleconference at the same time.

The guidance – RR-800 – is currently available for written public comment through the DNR’s “proposed program guidance” web page; comment on the document will be accepted through September 8, 2017.

Subjects discussed during the “Q & A” session will not take the place of written comments on the document. Rather, the opportunity is meant to help further clarify the material for those who may have questions about the content, with hope of alleviating potential erroneous comments.

Details of the vapor intrusion “Q & A” open house are:

  • Date: Tuesday, August 29
  • Time: 9:00 – 11:00 CST
  • Location: DNR Central Office, Room G-09, 101 S. Webster St., Madison, WI 53707
  • Conference Call Number: 1-855-947-8255, Passcode: 6612745#

Vapor intrusion team leader Alyssa Sellwood and Policy and Technical Resources Section Chief Judy Fassbender will be available to answer questions and clarify issues for participants.

If you plan to attend in person, please notify Alyssa Sellwood by the close of the business day on Monday, August 28, so that building security can be prepared for your arrival.

PECFA: Tracker on the Web Discontinues and Other Important Updates

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Tracker on the Web will be Discontinued Labor Day Weekend; Replaced by Password-Protected Website

Tentatively scheduled to take place on September 1, 2017, the Wisconsin DNR’s Remediation and Redevelopment Program will discontinue the online application, Tracker on the Web. The aging technology that currently supports Tracker on the Web will no longer be maintained by the State.

Continue reading “PECFA: Tracker on the Web Discontinues and Other Important Updates” →

Natural Resources Board takes Brownfields Tour in Oak Creek and Milwaukee

Posted on by elisabethkuisis
Natural Resources Board tours Oak Creek

Oak Creek City Attorney Larry Haskin addresses members of the NRB and press at the future home of Lake Vista Park.

The DNR’s Natural Resources Board (NRB) had a chance to see several brownfield sites in the southeast region of the state during its recent tour of Oak Creek. The tour was part of the members’ activities in the Milwaukee area the day before the Board held its August meeting. Members got a walking tour of Oak Creek’s Drexel Town Square, previously the site of Delco Electronics, learning about its remediation and stormwater management features.  From there, it was on to a tour of Lake Vista Park, part of the city’s formerly industrial lakefront, which wrapped up the Oak Creek portion of the tour.

The group then visited Milwaukee’s Harbor District, including the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences and Milwaukee’s inner harbor. They heard from RR Program staff about remediation and redevelopment projects in the area, including The Freshwater Plaza project.  The tour concluded at Erie Street Plaza, a small urban park built in 2010 in near the confluence of the Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic rivers, featuring native grasses and illuminated benches.

Brownfields Study Group Meeting September 15

Posted on by elisabethkuisis

The Brownfields Study Group will meet on September 15 in West Bend. This group was created roughly 20 years ago at the behest of the Legislature to help the DNR develop solutions and strategies to increase the number of contaminated properties that were cleaned up and returned to productive use. The group meets regularly and has members from the private sector, local governments, non-profits and others.

For an agenda and other meeting details, please contact Mick Skwarok, (608) 266-9263.

New Instructions for RR Program’s FTP Site for Electronic Submittals of Large Files

Posted on by elisabethkuisis

The Remediation and Redevelopment Program’s FTP site for submitting large (>12 MB) electronic files recently experienced technical difficulties. The site is back online, but with new instructions for submitting large files. Please use the following instructions.

To upload files larger than 12 MB to the regional folder on the RR FTP site:

  1. Open the following link in your browser: https://ftp.wi.gov/submittals/
  2. You will be asked for a User Name and Password
  3. Enter User Name dnr-rraccess
  4. Enter any password you want (Note: You cannot leave the Password blank)
  5. Navigate to the appropriate regional folder
  6. Use the Upload tool to load files to the ftp site

These new instructions are detailed in the guidance document RR 690, “Guidance for Electronic Submittals for the Remediation and Redevelopment Program.”

 

Issues & Trends Conference Call Scheduled for September 6

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Alyssa Sellwood, the Remediation and Redevelopment Program’s vapor intrusion and dry-cleaning team leader, will present our Issues & Trends conference call in September. Alyssa will discuss vapor intrusion sampling, including a discussion of action triggers, mitigation and long-term monitoring.  

Date: Wednesday, September 6
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Phone number: 1-855-947-8255
Passcode: 6612745#

The conference call will be recorded and available for playback via the Program’s training library for those who are unable to participate during the above time.

No pre-registration is required.  

 

Community Redevelopment Toolbox

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The latest version of ASTWMO’s Toolbox for Community Redevelopment, “A beginner’s guide to contaminated property redevelopment,” offers a five-step process to help local governments better understand the basic process of identification, assessment, investigation and cleanup.Clip Art

The Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials, Inc., (ASTSWMO), is a national organization founded in 1974. Its mission is to enhance and promote effective state programs and to affect relevant national policies for waste and materials management, environmentally sustainable practices, and environmental restoration.

The toolbox and examples are not Wisconsin-specific, but include good, basic information for anyone interested in cleanup and redevelopment issues.

CDFA Brownfields Financing Webinar Hazardous to Healthy: Financing Solutions for Recovering Brownfields

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Join CDFA, technical partners, and experienced brownfield communities for a discussion on the financial strategies that restored hazardous properties for healthy reuse on August 31 at 1:00 PM Central Time. This webcast is designed for professionals who work directly with brownfield sites as well as economic development finance professionals and communities interested in shaping programs to enhance redevelopment financing opportunities. Click here to confirm your participation and receive login information. Registration is free and open to all interested stakeholders.

New and Improved: RR Report Now Web-based

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Newsfeed Screen ShotWelcome to the new RR Report! In August, the RR Program’s RR Report changed from a static, PDF-based publication into a new, online newsfeed. The move represents the Program’s continuing commitment to outreach and communication.

The new RR Report offers greater functionality beyond the static version. It is searchable by category, tag or by key words or phrases. As we add new content to the site, the search feature will grow more robust. We hope that subscribers will appreciate the significant upgrades that this newsfeed format provides.

Our new site also offers the opportunity to post items more frequently than ever before. If you’re a frequent reader of the RR Report, you can visit the page whenever you like and see new content as it is posted here: https://rr-report.blogs.govdelivery.com/. We will notify subscribers every few weeks of posts that occurred during that time; we may occasionally alert readers to time-sensitive posts.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions regarding the RR Report. Please contact Mick Skwarok via email or by phone at 608-266-9263.

Updated Vapor Intrusion Guidance – RR-800 Public Input Opportunities

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The RR Program seeks your input on a significantly revised document titled, RR-800, Addressing Vapor Intrusion at Remediation & Redevelopment Sites in Wisconsin. The revisions to RR-800 include: updates from ITRC’s and USPEA’s vapor guidance; additional details on required deliverables; expectations for outreach; clarification on preemptive mitigation; and a significantly expanded discussion on vapor mitigation (design options, performance verifications, long-term operation and maintenance, and continuing obligations).

The document can be reviewed at http://dnr.wi.gov/news/input/guidance.html and comments can be submitted through September 8, 2017 to the Vapor Intrusion Team Leader, Alyssa Sellwood at Alyssa.Sellwood@wisconsin.gov. In addition, the RR Program will host a question and answer session on Tuesday, August 29th.  Mark your calendars; more details to come.