DTSC: New & Improved Formula (Recent Reforms & Sustainability Initiatives)
Stuart Block will participate as a panelist in this session.
The panel will review recent organizational changes at California's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) designed to facilitate property reuse, including efforts to create a more streamlined "one clean-up" program and the advent of "green" remediation approaches. While liability for contaminated properties may be recession-proof, the appetite for development of these sites in these changing economic times is certainly not. The panel will address how fewer people are closing deals involving contaminated properties, yet litigation involving such properties continues to rise. This will lead to a discussion on how to rework the Brownfields redevelopment model for the present economy, including the strategic use of alternate risk transfer mechanisms, such as environmental insurance products.