§ 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—
(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.
(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.
[1] See References in Text note below.