Restoring Prosperity

The EPA estimates that between 500,000 and one million brownfields exist throughout the country, and older cities are home to a disproportionate number of these abandoned former industrial sites. Brownfields redevelopment is a valuable economic development tool for local governments, helping to restore vacant, polluted sites for housing, commercial, or recreational purposes. Several pieces of federal legislation supported by the National Brownfields Coalition would help encourage brownfields cleanup and redevelopment, including:

Reauthorization of Brownfields Law – HR 5336, introduced by Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and James L Oberstar (D-MN), increases funding for the site assessment and cleanup program from $200 million to $350 million and prioritizes brownfields projects that include green building or energy efficiency standards.

Brownfields Tax Credit – Representatives Michael Turner (R-OH) and Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) have co-sponsored a bill (HR 3080) to establish a brownfields tax credit, which would help fund the testing and remediation procedures necessary to bring brownfield sites back into productive use in communities.

Waterfront Brownfields Pilot – Representative Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY) introduced HR 5469 to fund a $20 million Waterfront Brownfields Pilot Program, since so many of these sites are located on valuable river and lakefronts.