The state Department of Environmental Protection worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency beginning in April 2004 to create the One Cleanup Program, establishing a "one-stop shop" for state and federal standards to speed brownfield redevelopment and community revitalization.

The agreement clarifies that sites remediated under the state´s brownfield program also satisfy requirements for three key federal laws: the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation Liability Act, which is also known as the Superfund law.

Removing the threat of federal legal action once a site meets Pennsylvania´s stringent cleanup standards helps to stimulate the productive reuse of abandoned industrial sites and makes greenfield development less attractive, according to Pennsylvania officials.

"Transforming an abandoned industrial site provides the community with a location for new jobs," Gov. Rendell said. "That means a boost to the local tax base and the protection of our land and environment."

Boeing´s Ridley Park site in Delaware County currently operates a manufacturing plant where the CH-47 Chinook and V-22 Osprey helicopters are produced. The site was contaminated by metals from work done in previous years by Boeing and the former Baldwin Locomotive Works, according to state officials, who said the cleanup prepares the site for future growth.