The Art of Environmental Consensus Building: A Personal Perspective on the Evolution of Brownfields Legislation in New York
Type
Policy Brief or Report
Year
2000
Level
State
State(s)
New York
Policy Areas
Democracy & Governance, Environment & Natural Resources
With the passing of the New York State brownfields legislation, the author, Linda Shaw, gives her insight into the legislation and the compromises made within the adopted legislative proposal. The article begins with Shaw's personal perspective on early New York State brownfields reform legislative efforts and why it has taken so long to get to the point where we are now. Gaining historical perspective, Shaw provides insight into advocacy group's "deal killer" issues and how they eventually achieved substantive consensus on an overall brownfields program. The article concludes with a brief attempt to highlight the dynamic consensus process that led to some innovative solutions to the age-old "how clean is clean" issue.