Brownfield Braintrust Podcast

Why are No Further Action (NFA) letters for PCE and VOC vapor sites becoming nearly impossible to obtain in California? In this episode of the Brownfield Brain Trust , host Matt Winefield , founder of Winefield & Associates , sits down with Don Kellar , MS, REP, PG, Executive Vice President of Fulcrum (A Blew Company) , to break down a practical alternative: self-directed (self-certified) brow...

Brownfield redevelopment is one of the most powerful tools for community revitalization—and the funding window is open right now. In this episode of Brownfield Brain Trust , Matt Winefield is joined by Jean Hamerman , Executive Director, and Lauren Ghazikhanian , Director of Communications at The Center for Creative Land Recycling , to break down how brownfield redevelopment actually works. They c...

In this episode of the Brownfield Braintrust podcast, Matt Winefield sits down with Greg McIver of Citadel EHS , one of the few environmental consultants in California who has successfully secured No Further Action letters for VOC-impacted sites in 2024 and 2025. With California closures down more than 50 percent in recent years, this conversation offers rare, practical insight into what still wor...

In this Brownfield Braintrust Podcast episode, our very own Matt Winefield, along with  Steve Figgins  of  EKI Environment & Water, Inc.  and  Mark Johnson  of  Offit Kurman , discuss transforming oil production fields and how their remediation may differ from other industrial sites. For oil production think of wells, open fields, collection tanks, production pumps, and oil collection ponds. T...

In this Brownfield Braintrust Podcast episode, we discuss environmental vapor sampling with two exceptional experts in the field, Will Rice of Enthalpy Analytical and Kevin Kelly of Langan Engineering . Those of you who are actively involved in brownfields assessment, remediation, and redevelopment have had to come to terms with new vapor intrusion agency guidelines and regulations that have tight...

This podcast episode is a companion discussion for the W&A February 26, 2024, Vapor Intrusion blog, which you can access here:  https://www.winefieldinc.com/vi-blog/calepa-swrcb-site-closure-rates-continue-to-decline-likely-due-to-vapor-intrusion-guidance Matt Winefield discusses the Winefield & Associates GeoTracker data review of No Further Action (NFA) letter issuance rates before and a...

In our current Brownfield Braintrust Podcast, Matt Winefield of Winefield & Associates, Inc. sheds light on Vapor Intrusion Mitigation Systems (VIMS) with the help of Justin Conaway, Vice President and General Manager of Terra-Petra Environmental Engineering. Given evolving soil vapor mitigation standards, VIMS are currently much more prevalent than just three years ago. It is unlikely one can...

And now for a brownfields topic that, at first, seems esoteric but will actually impact just about every facet of site cleanups in California. We get into the weeds about proposed changes to Water Code Resolution 92-49. This resolution conveys policies and procedures to the State Water Board and Regional Board officials relating to the investigation and cleanup of discharges into groundwater, surf...

So, you’ve decided to sell your contaminated property. Our tenth Brownfield Braintrust Podcast discusses a three-leg support system to ensure you’re protected from future environmental liability after the deal closes. You’ll want to consider (1) an environmental indemnification, (2) how to manage your selling entity (LLC, trust, etc.), and (3) the brownfield expertise of the buyer. What could be m...

It’s Time to Sue California EPA About the Draft Vapor Intrusion Guidance Document: Here is a brief (10-minute) Brownfield Braintrust Podcast giving property owners and lawyers ammunition to sue CalEPA. CalEPA’s overreach pertaining to soil gas cleanup standards is egregious. This agency has issued guidance in direct conflict with our state’s greenhouse gas reduction and housing goals. A claim is l...

In this episode of the Brownfield Braintrust Podcast, our host, Matt Winefield of Winefield & Associates, Inc., talks with esteemed environmental attorney John Van Vlear of Newmeyer Dillion about California AB 304, which impacts how contaminated site regulatory management has changed dramatically. As of January 1, 2022, DTSC and the Regional Boards have enhanced control over local ag...

Many real estate investors shy away from acquiring sites with environmental challenges, because they are (justifiably) concerned about liabilities. Environmental insurance can hedge many of those risks. Winefield & Associates had the pleasure of interviewing an industry leader in environmental insurance, Bill Havard of USI Insurance Services. In this podcast Bill and Matt discuss the...

This will be the first of several Brownfield Braintrust Podcasts addressing dry cleaners, the leading source of environmental liabilities at commercial retail properties.  We provide some background on the impact of dry cleaner contamination on their surrounding environments, including statistics on contaminant migration and remediation costs.  Additionally, this episode discusses how Wi...

In which Winefield & Associates, Inc. solves the California environmental agency report backlog dilemma and dearth of No Further Action letters in 12 minutes In this podcast, Winefield & Associates outlines how environmental agencies in other states manage to close significantly more sites per year than California environmental agencies. Other industrial states such as New Jersey use...

This Brownfields Braintrust Podcast episode is NOT for Winefield & Associates friends and colleagues who have backgrounds in brownfield redevelopment. A sustainability organization called bUneke (as in “Be Unique”) interviewed Matt Winefield to discuss how Winefield & Associates brings blighted properties to beneficial uses. This episode is a folksy interview for those wanting to...

Matt Winefield of Winefield & Associates, Inc. and the Brownfield Braintrust Podcast had the privilege of interviewing Sean Sherlock, who discussed environmental justice (EJ) and its applicability towards brownfield projects. Sean is an Environmental Partner at Snell & Wilmer, and he has been following proposed EJ laws that are being promulgated at both the state and federal levels.&n...

In this second installment of the Brownfield Braintrust Podcast, Matt Winefield discusses ten flaws with the Cal-EPA 0.03 attenuation factor (AF) in the Draft Vapor Intrusion Guidance Document. All parties agree that the AF should be based on best available science. Best available science dictates that Cal-EPA must use the AF developed in the 2020 DTSC attenuation factor study, which uti...

Matt Winefield interviews Ignacio Dayrit, Director of Programs for the Center for Creative Land Recycling. CCLR is the oldest and only national non-profit working exclusively to champion land cleanup and reuse. It is an independent, third-party force for the sustainable and equitable reuse of land with expertise in cleaning up and redeveloping vacant or contaminated properties, sometimes refe...