DOH: Voluntary Cleanup Program

Protect and improve human health and the environment, promote urban redevelopment and stimulate economic growth by encouraging and supporting the reuse of contaminated lands and buildings through voluntary, private cleanup.

The redevelopment of abandoned, idled, or under-utilized government, industrial, commercial or residential property through cleanup and sound environmental remediation practices.

Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP)

The District of Columbia Department of Health, Environmental Health Administration seeks to protect and preserve the ecological system of the District, protect and increase green spaces, and promote the safe use or development of lands that are contaminated or perceived to be contaminated by hazardous substances. To achieve this goal, the Environmental Health Administration established the District of Columbia Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP). VCP is a part of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials and Toxic Substances. Unlike the media-specific programs that require mandatory cleanup of contaminated property, VCP oversees owner or developer initiated voluntary remediation of contaminated lands and buildings that return actual or potentially contaminated properties to productive uses.

A Brief History of VCP

In 1999, the Department of Health entered into an agreement with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, to establish a Clean Land Program in the District of Columbia. The purpose of the Clean Land Program is to ensure that any potential or known contaminated land in the city is carefully, but efficiently, assessed, cleaned to the city’s groundwater and soil standards and then reused for development or other productive purposes. VCP allows individuals, businesses and other entities, who otherwise have no responsibility for cleanup, to voluntarily clean up contaminated sites for future use.

On June 15, 2001, the Brownfield Revitalization Amendment Act of 2000, DC Law 13-312, DC Official Code 8-631 et seq. (Supp. 2002) became effective. The Act established the Voluntary Cleanup Program for contaminated property. The Act authorized tax and other incentives for development of contaminated property, and amended provisions of the Tax Increment Financing Authorization Act of 1998, National Capital Revitalization Corporation Act of 1998, and the District of Columbia Community Development Act of 1975 to incorporate and support the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated property.