VT Brownfield Programs
VT Department of Environmental Conservation Brownfields Main Page
State Funding Program: VTDEC provides technical and financial assistance for all aspects of site investigation, cleanup and planning. As of March 2021, the program is out of funds, but accepts applications to put in a queue.
Liability Relief: BRELLA, the state brownfields reuse and environmental liability limitation program provide relief for persons who own or plan to purchase a property and did not cause or contribution to the contamination.
Partners in Network
State contact information & Roundtable resources
Environmental Program Manager & Brownfields Program Coordinator, The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Conservation, encourages brownfield reuse projects as a means of accomplishing positive environmental and human health impacts while advancing sound land-use practices. Reuse of historically productive properties supports sustainable development trends and promotes community and economic growth.
The Brownfields Response Program works to provide developers with tools to help deliver projects in a safe, timely, and cost effective manner, focusing on three areas: limitation of environmental liability; technical assistance; and financial assistance. In some instances, the Brownfields Response Program collaborates with Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development and Vermont’s eleven Regional Planning Commissions. Our Brownfields Handbook describes how to navigate a variety of brownfields redevelopment projects.
| Organization | Name | Contact | Roundtable Resources |
| Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VT DEC) | Sarah Bartlet | sarah.bartlett@vermont.gov | Southern VT Roundtable.pdf
|
Regional contact information
An RPC/RPO supports local governments by coordinating regional brownfields planning, managing or assisting with EPA brownfields grants, providing technical and GIS support, and integrating brownfield assessment and redevelopment into broader land-use, transportation, housing, and economic development plans.
| Organization | Name | Contact |
| Addison County Regional Planning Commission | Andrew L'Roe | alroe@acrpc.org |
| Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission | Christian Meyer | meyer@cvregion.com |
| Northwest Regional Planning Commission | Greta Brunswick | gbrunswick@nrpcvt.com |
| Rutland Regional Planning Commission | Devon Neary | devon@rutlandrpc.org |
| Bennington County Regional Planning Commission | Jim Henderson | jhenderson@bcrcvt.org |
| Lamoille County Planning Commission | Tasha Wallis | tasha@lcpcvt.org |
| Mount Ascutney Regional Planning Commission | Cindy Ingersoll | cingersoll@marcvt.org |
| Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Planning Commission | Sarah Wraight | swraight@trorc.org |
| Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission | Dan Albrecht | dalbrecht@ccrpcvt.org |
| Northeastern Vermont Development Association | David Snedeker | dsnedeker@nvda.net |
| Windham Regional Planning Commission | Susan Westa | swesta@windhamregional.org |
Where can I find environmental standards and contaminated site information?
Vermont Environmental Research Tool (ERT) – Brownfields & Contaminated Sites
Source: Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VT DEC)
Searchable database for Vermont environmental sites and facilities, including Brownfields, hazardous sites, spills, underground storage tanks, hazardous waste, solid waste, and other programs. The Brownfield Sites section can be used to identify known Brownfields properties and review available site information and project status for EPA Brownfields research.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Brownfields Program
Source: Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VT DEC)
Provides information about Vermont's Brownfields Program, including Brownfields redevelopment resources, assessment and cleanup assistance, program guidance, and links to Vermont's contaminated-site research tools. Useful as a starting point for understanding Vermont's Brownfields program and state resources available to applicants.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Investigation and Remediation of Contaminated Properties Rule – Chapter 35
Source: Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VT DEC)
Establishes Vermont's requirements for investigating and remediating contaminated properties. The current Chapter 35 rule became effective February 23, 2024 and addresses investigation, risk evaluation, corrective action, and remediation of contaminated properties. This is the key regulatory framework for understanding Vermont's cleanup requirements in Brownfields projects.
🔗 Click to seeVermont DEC Laws & Regulations
Source: Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VT DEC)
Provides access to Vermont environmental laws, rules, regulations, and related regulatory resources administered by the Department of Environmental Conservation. Useful for researching requirements that may apply to Brownfields assessment, cleanup, redevelopment, permitting, and environmental protection.
🔗 Click to seeWhere can I find land-use plans and planning resources?
Vermont Municipal Planning Data Center
Source: Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)
Statewide searchable database of municipal plans, bylaws, regional planning information, and related planning documents. Users can search by municipality, regional planning commission, county, plan type, adoption date, and expiration date and access submitted plan documents. This is one of the most useful current resources for finding municipal plans to demonstrate alignment between a Brownfields project and local planning priorities.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Municipal and Regional Planning & Development Act
Source: Vermont Legislature
Establishes the statutory framework for municipal and regional planning in Vermont, including municipal plans, regional planning commissions, regional plans, and planning implementation. Useful for understanding the legal planning framework and demonstrating how Brownfields redevelopment fits within local and regional planning processes.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Regional Planning Commissions
Source: Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies (VAPDA) / Vermont Regional Planning Commissions
Provides information about Vermont's 11 Regional Planning Commissions and their planning and technical-assistance roles. RPCs assist municipalities with planning, development, economic development, plans, bylaws, and related implementation activities, making them useful partners for Brownfields planning and grant development.
🔗 Click to seeWhere can I find GIS, geographic, and regional data?
Vermont Open Geodata Portal
Source: Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI) / State of Vermont
Statewide source for Vermont geospatial data, maps, and GIS services. The portal provides datasets covering environmental resources, transportation, infrastructure, land use, natural resources, and other geographic information. Useful for mapping Brownfields sites and analyzing surrounding community and environmental conditions.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Natural Resources Atlas (ANR Atlas)
Source: Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (VT ANR)
GIS-based mapping tool with numerous environmental and natural-resource layers. The Brownfields Handbook notes that the Atlas includes layers for hazardous sites, Brownfields, land-use restrictions, hazardous-waste generators, and other environmental information. Useful for mapping Brownfields properties and analyzing surrounding environmental and land-use conditions.
🔗 Click to seeWhere can I find general public health and socioeconomic data?
Vermont Public Health Data Explorer
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Provides interactive public-health data, maps, trends, and geographic comparisons for Vermont communities. Data can be explored by geography and topic and can help document health conditions, disparities, and community characteristics relevant to EPA Brownfields Grant applications.
🔗 Click to seeWhere can I find environmental public health data?
Vermont Environmental Public Health Tracking Network
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Connects environmental and public-health information to help users investigate potential relationships between environmental exposures and health outcomes. Current topics include air quality, drinking water, radon, childhood lead poisoning, asthma, cancer, birth defects, reproductive health, and other environmental-health indicators. Data are available at state, county, and in some cases sub-county levels.
🔗 Click to seeHealthy Vermonters 2030 Data Dashboard
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Provides 55 population-health indicators covering health and well-being in Vermont, with data available by state, county, district office, and hospital service area and, where possible, demographic breakdowns. Unlike the older Healthy Vermonters 2020 resource referenced in the original text, the 2030 dashboard is actively updated and can be useful for grant applications and community needs assessments.
🔗 Click to seeState and National Health & Socioeconomic Grant Data
Source: University of Connecticut Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities (TAB) Program
Provides state and national socioeconomic and health data intended to support EPA Brownfields Grant applications and provide comparison benchmarks.
🔗 Click to seeCDC National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Provides nationally comparable environmental and health data that can be explored geographically. Useful for providing broader context and comparison data for community health conditions and environmental-health concerns in EPA Brownfields applications.
🔗 Click to seeCDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Data Explorer
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Interactive mapping and data-analysis tool for exploring selected environmental and health indicators by geography. Some cancer indicators available through the Tracking Network are modeled estimates rather than actual cancer incidence rates, so applicants should review the methodology for each indicator before using it in a grant application.
🔗 Click to seeNeed help with cancer data and statistics?
U.S. Cancer Statistics
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Provides official federal cancer incidence and mortality statistics from cancer registries and mortality records. Useful for providing actual cancer-rate comparisons in Brownfields community-health narratives, with data available at state and county levels.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Sub-County Cancer Maps
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Provides Vermont-specific cancer maps showing observed and expected cases and standardized incidence ratios for seven cancer types at sub-county geographic areas. This is particularly useful for Brownfields applications because it provides more geographically detailed cancer information than state- or county-level sources.
🔗 Click to seeLooking for specific disease or health condition tracking?
Vermont Environmental Public Health Tracking – Asthma
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Provides asthma-related environmental and health information, including emergency department visits and hospitalization data. The resource also provides information about environmental triggers such as air pollution. Useful for documenting respiratory-health conditions and vulnerable populations in Brownfields applications.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Birth Information Network / Birth Defect Data
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Provides statewide surveillance information on birth defects and other congenital conditions through the Vermont Birth Information Network. Current information includes birth-defect data for Vermont residents and an Environmental Health Birth Defect Tracker. Useful for broader community-health assessments, although birth-defect data should not be used alone to establish a causal relationship with a Brownfields property.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Environmental Public Health Tracking – Birth Defects
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Provides birth-defect case counts and prevalence rates for selected conditions among Vermont resident live births. Current tracking data cover 2006–2023 and are available by maternal county of residence. Useful for documenting community health conditions and environmental-health context in Brownfields applications.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Environmental Public Health Tracking – Childhood Lead Poisoning
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Provides data on childhood blood-lead levels and related housing and demographic indicators. The current dataset includes blood-lead information for children at ages 12 and 24 months, along with housing-age and childhood-poverty information. Useful for documenting environmental-health burdens and vulnerable populations in Brownfields applications.
🔗 Click to seeVermont Environmental Public Health Tracking – Data Encyclopedia
Source: Vermont Department of Health
Provides detailed information about Vermont's Environmental Public Health Tracking datasets, including data years, geographic availability, sources, update frequency, and limitations. Particularly useful when preparing an EPA Brownfields application because it helps applicants understand exactly what a dataset measures and whether it is available at the geographic scale needed.
🔗 Click to seeWhere can I find information about asbestos exposure and health risks?
Vermont Asbestos Information
Source: Mesothelioma Center
Provides general information about asbestos exposure and asbestos-related health risks, including information specific to Vermont. This can provide background information when asbestos is a potential contaminant or historical building material at a Brownfields property. Because this is a private advocacy/information resource rather than a government dataset, it is better used as supplemental background information rather than primary evidence in an EPA application.
🔗 Click to seeMesothelioma & Asbestos Risk Factors
Source: Mesothelioma Center
Provides general background on asbestos exposure, mesothelioma, and risk factors. Can be used as supplemental educational information when asbestos is relevant to a Brownfields property, although EPA applications should rely primarily on government and peer-reviewed sources for health claims.
🔗 Click to seeEnvironmental Asbestos Exposure & Risk Reduction
Source: Mesothelioma Center
Provides general information about environmental asbestos exposure and approaches for reducing exposure. Potentially useful as supplemental background when asbestos-containing materials are relevant to a Brownfields property, but should not substitute for Vermont DEC or EPA regulatory guidance.
🔗 Click to see