House Passes Brownfield Redevelopment Measure to Revitalize Small Communities

June 5, 2002

The House today passed a bill, by a voice vote, to provide local communities with more funds to redevelop land contaminated by industrial use. The Brownfields Redevelopment Enhancement Act, H.R. 2941, introduced by Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA) gives local governments greater flexibility to rehabilitate brownfields sites.

?H.R. 2941 will give local communities more funding flexibility for brownfields clean-up and redevelopment. Passage of this bill will have a direct, positive impact on our environment,? said Rep. Miller.

The bill focuses on providing capital to local entities that traditionally have had trouble obtaining financing for brownfields redevelopment activities.

H.R. 2941 addresses concerns over the need to cleanup brownfields sites -- sites where redevelopment is complicated by potential environmental contamination, but that are less seriously contaminated than those designated as Superfund sites.

?We can clean up these properties and build homes, shopping centers, and even baseball stadiums on them,? said Chairman Michael G. Oxley (OH). ?We can do the environmentally responsible thing -- create jobs and new hope in our neighborhoods.

?H.R. 2941 sends a strong message to the developers, investors, and bankers who put up the money for these projects. We want you to invest in our cities. We want to clean up contamination. We want to bring abandoned properties back to life.?

Returning the nation?s brownfields sites to productive use could create more than 550,000 new jobs and generate up to $2.4 billion in additional tax revenue for communities across the U.S.

?Redevelopment of these sites will go a long way toward revitalizing the communities around them and will improve the quality of life and the environment in these areas,? said Housing Subcommittee Chairwoman Marge Roukema (NJ).

Source: House Financial Services Committee


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