Contamination
Unknown contamination
Known contamination with unknown cleanup cost and time
Lack of process certainty and finality
How clean is clean?
When is cleanup complete?
Who can answer these questions and how?
Liabilities and related concerns
Evolving in practice, from pure legal liability to lender/new
owner concerns over:
Reduced value of collateral
Borrower inability to pay both cleanup costs and loan amounts simultaneously
Lender having to assume cleanup costs in the event of
foreclosure OR forfeit collateral in the face of cleanup
Added costs linked to environmental cleanup
Lack of redevelopment financing
Barriers to Brownfield Reuse