42 U.S.C. § 9661 : US Code - Section 9661: Love Canal property acquisition

Search 42 U.S.C. § 9661 : US Code - Section 9661: Love Canal property acquisition

(a) Acquisition of property in Emergency Declaration Area
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
(hereinafter referred to as the "Administrator") may make grants
not to exceed $2,500,000 to the State of New York (or to any duly
constituted public agency or authority thereof) for purposes of
acquisition of private property in the Love Canal Emergency
Declaration Area. Such acquisition shall include (but shall not be
limited to) all private property within the Emergency Declaration
Area, including non-owner occupied residential properties,
commercial, industrial, public, religious, non-profit, and vacant
properties.
(b) Procedures for acquisition
No property shall be acquired pursuant to this section unless the
property owner voluntarily agrees to such acquisition. Compensation
for any property acquired pursuant to this section shall be based
upon the fair market value of the property as it existed prior to
the emergency declaration. Valuation procedures for property
acquired with funds provided under this section shall be in
accordance with those set forth in the agreement entered into
between the New York State Disaster Preparedness Commission and the
Love Canal Revitalization Agency on October 9, 1980.
(c) State ownership
The Administrator shall not provide any funds under this section
for the acquisition of any properties pursuant to this section
unless a public agency or authority of the State of New York first
enters into a cooperative agreement with the Administrator
providing assurances deemed adequate by the Administrator that the
State or an agency created under the laws of the State shall take
title to the properties to be so acquired.
(d) Maintenance of property
The Administrator shall enter into a cooperative agreement with
an appropriate public agency or authority of the State of New York
under which the Administrator shall maintain or arrange for the
maintenance of all properties within the Emergency Declaration Area
that have been acquired by any public agency or authority of the
State. Ninety (90) percent of the costs of such maintenance shall
be paid by the Administrator. The remaining portion of such costs
shall be paid by the State (unless a credit is available under
section 9604(c) of this title). The Administrator is authorized, in
his discretion, to provide technical assistance to any public
agency or authority of the State of New York in order to implement
the recommendations of the habitability and land-use study in order
to put the land within the Emergency Declaration Area to its best
use.
(e) Habitability and land use study
The Administrator shall conduct or cause to be conducted a
habitability and land-use study. The study shall -
(1) assess the risks associated with inhabiting of the Love
Canal Emergency Declaration Area;
(2) compare the level of hazardous waste contamination in that
Area to that present in other comparable communities; and
(3) assess the potential uses of the land within the Emergency
Declaration Area, including but not limited to residential,
industrial, commercial and recreational, and the risks associated
with such potential uses.
The Administrator shall publish the findings of such study and
shall work with the State of New York to develop recommendations
based upon the results of such study.
(f) Funding
For purposes of section 9611 of this title [and 9631(c) (!1) of
this title], the expenditures authorized by this section shall be
treated as a cost specified in section 9611(c) of this title.
(g) Response
The provisions of this section shall not affect the
implementation of other response actions within the Emergency
Declaration Area that the Administrator has determined (before
October 17, 1986) to be necessary to protect the public health or
welfare or the environment.
(h) Definitions
For purposes of this section:
(1) Emergency Declaration Area
The terms "Emergency Declaration Area" and "Love Canal
Emergency Declaration Area" mean the Emergency Declaration Area
as defined in section 950, paragraph (2) of the General Municipal
Law of the State of New York, Chapter 259, Laws of 1980, as in
effect on October 17, 1986.
(2) Private property
As used in subsection (a) of this section, the term "private
property" means all property which is not owned by a department,
agency, or instrumentality of -
(A) the United States, or
(B) the State of New York (or any public agency or authority
thereof).