BROWNFIELDS New EPA Rule Will Accelerate Brownfields Development
Contact: Kerry Humphrey, 202-564-4355 humphrey.kerry@epa.gov Nov 1, 2005 - - The new rule establishes clear standards for
environmental due diligence that will encourage more urban
redevelopment. The All Appropriate Inquiries rule is expected to increase private cleanups of brownfield properties while reducing urban sprawl, affecting more than 250,000 commercial real estate transactions nationwide annually. The rule's process of evaluating a property for potential environmental contamination and assessing potential liability for any contamination at the property increases certainty of Superfund liability protection, and improves information about environmental conditions of properties.
The rule was developed collaboratively with stakeholders representing diverse constituencies such as realtors, bankers, environmental interest groups, the retail industry, environmental justice organizations, and state, tribal and local governments.
Since its inception in 1995, EPA's brownfields program has changed the way contaminated property is perceived, addressed, and managed.
For additional information, see the EPA's web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
$75.9 Million in Brownfield Grants Announced
Communities in 44 states will share more than $75 million in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency brownfields grants to help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, transforming them from problem properties into community assets. Brownfields are sites where potentially harmful contaminants may be impeding revitalization. The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002 authorizes up to $250 million in funds annually for brownfields grants. That law broadened the definition of a brownfield to include mine-scarred lands, sites contaminated by petroleum or areas polluted by the manufacture of illegal drugs. In addition to the grants being announced today, participants in the brownfields program gain access to the expertise and other resources from more than 20 federal agencies. There are four categories of grants being awarded with 218 applicants, including three tribal nations, selected to receive 302 grants totaling $75.9 million. These include: -
172 assessment grants, worth $33.6 million, to assess and plan for eventual cleanup at one or more brownfield sites; -
106 cleanup grants, totaling $19.3 million, for recipients to clean up brownfield sites they own; -
13 revolving loan fund grants, totaling $20.8 million, which communities use to make low-interest loans for the cleanup of brownfield sites; -
11 job-training grants, valued at $2.2 million, for environmental training of people who live in brownfield communities. More than 60 percent of the people completing brownfields training programs have landed jobs in the environmental field. The Brownfields Program promotes redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since its inception in 1995, the program has awarded 709 assessment grants totaling over $190 million, 189 revolving loan fund grants worth more than $165 million, and $26.8 million for 150 cleanup grants. In addition to promoting industrial and commercial redevelopment, brownfields projects have converted industrial waterfronts to riverfront parks, landfills to golf courses, rail corridors to recreational trails, and gas station sites to housing. EPA's brownfields assistance has led to more than $7 billion in public and private investment in cleanup and redevelopment, helped create more than 31,000 jobs, and resulted in the assessment of more than 5,100 properties. For more information on the grant recipients, go to: http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/archive/pilot_arch.htm. For more information on brownfields in general, go to: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields. (Source: EPA) BROWNFIELDS LAW The House and Senate passed H.R. 2869, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2001 on Thursday, December 20th, 2001. The bill combines the Senate-passed version of S. 350 and the House-passed Small Business Liability Act. The bill, aimed at encouraging development of polluted lands, contains increased funding and flexibility to state and local governments for cleanup of brownfields. It also gives prospective redevelopers assurances that the federal government will not come after them for past pollution at the redevelopment site, and has small business liability reform. Senate passage happened despite earlier objections by some Republicans to language that would require cleanup contractors to pay prevailing union wages. The provisions sought by the Bush administration are intended to exempt innocent developers from having to pay decontamination costs if toxic waste is found on a site after it is purchased. But federal Superfund law still would apply, putting responsibility on those who caused the spill or leakage. The legislation cuts down on legal wrangling by distinguishing between large-scale polluters and smaller developers who don’t deserve to be penalized. The bill also contains a brownfields-to-parks funding provision intended to encourage communities to reclaim land for public use. $1.2 Billion Clean Up Law for Polluted Industrial Sites (Brownfields) Signed by President Bush President Bush signed legislation in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania on October 11, 2002 to clean up thousands of polluted industrial sites (Brownfields). The five-year plan provides $250 million a year to states, local governments and Indian tribes. The plan also protects innocent small-business owners and employees from unfair lawsuits and is designed to actually clean up contaminated sites. The Bush administration’s 2003 budget proposal raises the EPA spending level for Brownfields from about $100 million to $200 million. EPA: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
Brownfields Democratic Capitalism Democracy presumes and enshrines equality. Capitalism not only presumes but requires and produces inequality. How can you have a society based on equality and inequality at the same time? The classic answer is that democracy and capitalism should reign in their own separate spheres. As citizens, we are all equal. As players in the economy, we enjoy differing rewards depending on our efforts, talents or luck. -- Michael Kinsley It appears that the best way to organize society in this world is with a theocratic democratic capitalism. As such, brownfields democratic capitalism has a strong moral appeal. -- AAEA
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