Jane Warren speaks with the Connecticut Law Tribune to weigh in on the replacement of the Connecticut Transfer Act. “Since 1980, if a certain threshold of hazardous waste was generated, then you had to do an investigation and comply with and jump through hoops and notify the state when you transferred the property,” Jane says. This would deter businesses from entering the state due to the expensive investigations and remediation required, she says. The new regulations were designed to make the process faster, less costly, and more streamlined. “If you discover a release on your property, whether you’re discovering something that’s historic or new, then you have to investigate it and remediate that release within a year,” to avoid having to report to CTDEEP and having to pay fees and place the property into tiers according to their environmental risk, she says. “You don’t have to involve the state. You can do this on your own, as long as you then bring it into compliance with the state’s remediation regulations.”
There are still details to be worked out though, Jane says. The regulations are set to go into effect on March 1, 2026, which gives the working group more time to polish them after seeing what works well, and what is perhaps working worse than it was before.