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All Appropriate
Inquiries
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| Proposed Rule on All Appropriate Inquiries EPA's Proposed Rule: Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries was signed by the EPA Administrator and published in the Federal Register on August 26, 2004. The proposed rule would establish specific regulatory requirements for conducting all appropriate inquiries into the previous ownership, uses, and environmental conditions of a property for the purposes of qualifying for certain landowner liability protections under CERCLA. EPA developed the proposed rule using a Negotiated Rulemaking process. The proposed rule retains the regulatory language developed by the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. The text of the proposed rule and preamble is provided below. EPA will accept public comments on the proposed rule until November 30, 2004. The preamble provides detailed instructions on how to submit public comments to EPA on the proposed rule.
[ HTML (371K) | PDF (1.4 MB) 41 Pages ] August 26, 2004 Federal Register Notice: Extension of Public Comment Period for Proposed Rule [ PDF (125K) 2 Pages ] September 17, 2004 Public Meetings on the Proposed Rule: "Standards and Practices
for All Appropriate Inquiries" EPA held a public meeting on the proposed rule in St. Louis on September 22, 2004. EPA will be holding two additional public meetings to listen to public comments and input on the proposed rule that would set standards and practices for all appropriate inquiries. A public meeting will be held in Washington, D.C. on October 20, 2004 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST. The Washington, D.C. public meeting will be held in the EPA East Building at 1201 Constitution Ave. N.W., Room 1153. A public meeting also will be held in San Francisco on November 18, 2004. The San Francisco public meeting will take place from 2:00 to 4:00 PST and will be held at the Park Hyatt San Francisco Hotel at Embarcadero Center. The hotel is located at 333 Battery Street, San Francisco, California 94111. This public meeting will take place in San Francisco during the same week as, and directly following, the RTM Contaminated Property Transactions Conference. Persons wishing to attend the public meeting on the proposed rule on all appropriate inquiries need not register for or attend the RTM conference. Both meetings are open to the public. Any person may speak at the public meetings; however, we encourage those planning to give oral testimony to pre-register with EPA. Those planning to speak at the public meeting should notify Patricia Overmeyer, of EPA's Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment, at 202-566-2774, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (mc:5105T), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20460 or via email at overmeyer.patricia@epa.gov. Those wishing to speak at the public meeting in Washington, D.C. should register no later than October 15, 2004. Those wishing to speak at the San Francisco public meeting should register no later than November 10, 2004.
[ PDF (113K) 2 Pages ] August 26, 2004 Washington, D.C. public meeting announcement San Francisco public meeting announcement
Final Consensus DocumentGeneral Information
Establishing the FACA Committee
FACA Meetings Information
General InformationThe Small Business Liability Relief and Revitalization Act (the Brownfields Law) clarifies CERCLA liability provisions for certain landowners and potential property owners. The Brownfields Law provides liability protections for certain property owners, if the property owners comply with certain provisions, including conducting all appropriate inquiries into present and past uses of the property and the potential presence of environmental contamination on the property. The Brownfields Law amends Section 101(35)(B) of CERCLA to include an interim standard for conducting all appropriate inquiries and requires EPA to promulgate regulations that establish federal standards and practices for conducting all appropriate inquiries. The all appropriate inquiries standards and practices are relevant to:
EPA developed the proposed rule setting federal standards for all appropriate inquiries under a negotiated rulemaking process. Negotiated rulemaking is a process which brings together representatives of various interest groups and a federal agency to negotiate the text of a proposed rule. EPA decided to use the negotiated rulemaking process after undertaking a convening of affected stakeholders. Interviews of over 60 stakeholder groups by an independent facilitator led to a conclusion that there is was a strong possibility that a negotiated rulemaking committee could reach consensus on a proposed rulemaking. For more on the negotiated rulemaking process, see the factsheet provided below. A copy of the final Convening Report also is available below. EPA established a Negotiated Rulemaking Committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and the Negotiated Rulemaking Act (NRA) for the purpose of conducting discussions and reaching consensus, if possible, on proposed regulatory language setting the standards and practices for conducting all appropriate inquiries as required by the Brownfields Law. A copy of the committee's FACA Charter, a list of committee members, and the Federal Register notices announcing the establishment of the committee and committee meetings are provided below. The first meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee was held on April 29 and 30, 2003 in Washington, D.C. All additional meetings of the committee were announced in the Federal Register and were open to the public. Below are links to relevant documents. This list will be regularly updated. All Appropriate Inquiries Statutory Language from the Small Business Liability Relief and Revitalization Act [ HTML (16K) | PDF (54K) 2 Pages ] Final Convening Report on the Feasibility of a Negotiated Rulemaking Process to Develop the All Appropriate Inquiries Standard Required under the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act Final Report March 6, 2003 Federal Register Notice of Intent to Negotiate Proposed Rule on All Appropriate Inquiries
Federal Register Notice Summary from the April 15, 2003 Public Meeting on the All Appropriate Inquiries Negotiated Rulemaking
All Appropriate Inquiries Fact Sheet
Negotiated Rulemaking Fact Sheet
All Appropriate Inquiries Criteria Analysis/Comparison to State, Federal, and Commercial Assessment Approaches Publication Number: EPA-500-F-03-229 Establishing the FACA CommitteeApril 7, 2003 Federal Register Notice of Establishment and Meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee on All Appropriate Inquiries
Federal Register Notice List of FACA Committee Members [ HTML (15K) | PDF (57K) 2 Pages ]Ground Rules for Regulatory Negotiation Committee on All Appropriate Inquiries [ HTML (22K) | PDF (67K) 6 Pages ] FACA Meetings InformationAgenda - First Meeting, April 29-30, 2003 [ HTML (15K) | PDF (67K) 2 Pages ]Summary of the April 29 and 30, 2003 Committee Meeting [ HTML (26K) | PDF (184K) 6 Pages ] Notice announcing June 10-11, 2003 Meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Federal Register Notice Agenda - Second Meeting, June 10-11, 2003 [ HTML (15K) | PDF (80K) 2 Pages ] Summary of the June 10-11, 2003 Committee Meeting [ HTML (32K) | PDF (104K) 7 Pages ] Notice announcing July, 2003 Meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Federal Register Notice Agenda - Third Meeting, July 8-9, 2003 [ HTML (14K) | PDF (81K) 2 Pages ] Summary of the July 8-9, 2003 Meeting
September Meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Federal Register Notice Summary of the September 9-10, 2003 Meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee [ HTML (37K) | PDF (127K) 8 Pages ] October Meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee
Notice that October Meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee will be extended to third day
Agenda - Fifth Meeting, October 14-16, 2003 [ HTML (16K) | PDF (61K) 3 Pages ] Summary of the October 14-16, 2003 Meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee [ HTML (32K) | PDF (135K) 8 Pages ] Notice Announcing the November 12 -14, 2003 Meeting of the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee Federal Register Notice Agenda - Sixth Meeting, November 12-14, 2003 [ HTML (15K) | PDF (67K) 2 Pages ] Meeting Summary – November 12-14, 2003 Final Committee Meeting [ HTML (32K) | PDF (33K) 6 Pages ] Negotiated Rulemaking Committee (draft) Final Consensus Document [ HTML (60K) | PDF (125K) 25 Pages ] |
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