HB 1290, a Department of Ecology (Ecology) request bill that was crafted with land developers, unanimously passed out of both chambers. The proposal makes changes to the voluntary site cleanup program and is intended to increase contaminated site cleanups for affordable housing development.
Here are the changes:
- The program authorizes Ecology to provide both informal technical assistance and an expedited process for persons conducting independent remedial action, with costs paid by the requester.
- Ecology may use a cost recovery or fee structure, or both, to cover its costs and may establish a separate fee and cost recovery structure for providing expedited advice and assistance. Fees may be calculated based on the complexity of the contaminated site and other site-specific factors.
- Costs may be waived for remediation of contaminated sites used for affordable housing development after considering the requester's ability to pay and the potential public benefit of the development.
- Ecology may file a lien against the property to ensure it is being used for affordable housing.
- Ecology must establish performance measures and track the number of requests and progress of reviews of planned or completed remedial actions.