Brownfield remediation addresses environmental hazards, unlocks new land for housing, and paves the way for economic growth in many communities that have borne the burden of environmental contamination for decades. As Congress considers reforms to the federal brownfields program, the National Brownfield Coalition (NBC)—a non-partisan, smart-growth aligned alliance that advocates for policy change and funding to responsibly clean up and reuse underutilized or environmentally-impacted land—is weighing in on how the federal brownfields program can continue to support critical work in communities around the country.
Brownfields, meaning real property where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant, are a barrier to growth in communities across the country. While the federal government, as well as state governments, have supported brownfields work since the mid-1990s, the hundreds of thousands of brownfields across the country require additional resources to tackle. Investing in these properties improves community well-being by remediating environmental hazards, unlocks new land for housing, and paves the way for economic development and job creation. In addition, when brownfields, which are not typically contributing to the tax rolls for their highest or best use, are remediated and redeveloped with monetary incentives, there is typically a 2-3 times return in tax revenue as the property itself is returned to productive use and the values of adjacent real properties increase.
Over the last several months, Congress has begun to work in earnest to reauthorize EPA’s brownfields programs. The Senate Environment and Public Works committee unanimously passed a bipartisan reauthorization bill in February of this year, which included provisions to reduce barriers that hinder small and rural communities from accessing funding and expanded resources for the program. In the House of Representatives, the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment held a hearing focused on brownfields and economic revitalization in preparation for their own reauthorization efforts. At the hearing, National Brownfields Coalition representative Christa Stoneham testified to the value of EPA’s brownfields programs overall, specific brownfields projects in Houston, and how staff or funding cuts at EPA could harm the program.
As Congress works to pass legislation reauthorizing the EPA’s brownfields programs, the National Brownfields Coalition is championing the priorities detailed below. These adjustments would accelerate redevelopment and improve program efficiency by reauthorizing the program, increasing flexibility, streamlining program delivery, and increasing resources.
Increased resources and ensuring robust staffing at EPA offices
Increasing resources allows the successful program to reach more communities and address more contaminated sites. Robust staffing at EPA program offices and regional offices, meanwhile, ensures that projects keep moving through the remediation process. Delays cost time and money, and adequate staffing helps improve timelines and makes more projects possible. The coalition is also advocating for increasing the maximum grant award for many grant types to expand the amount of work that each grant award can be used to complete. Many sites require multiple streams of financing to complete remediation, which slows down the timeline for redevelopment. Higher maximum funding levels would allow for faster remediation, and the faster sites can be closed out, the quicker redevelopment can occur.
Improve efficiency to accelerate redevelopment
The National Brownfields Coalition proposes eliminating match requirements for cleanup grants and decreasing the percentage of a grant that must be spent before reapplication to allow for reapplication if reasonable plans to spend the funds are on the books. These interventions would increase flexibility and help grantees of all sizes better utilize the program. In addition, decreasing the time between the grant award announcement and project completion, potentially by streamlining certain EPA processes, would help projects reach completion faster.
Securing final passage of a reauthorization bill
Broadly, reauthorization bills modernize programs and reaffirm congressional support for successful programs, helping ensure their continued existence. As evidenced by both the impact of individual projects that have received grants as well as the topline numbers on program impact, the EPA Brownfields program is successful and should be reauthorized.
The coalition expects the reauthorization process to continue through the year and potentially through the rest of the Congress. The coalition applauds the positive, bipartisan tone of the process so far and looks forward to continuing to engage with Congress as it seeks to reauthorize the brownfields programs and considers further ways to support brownfields cleanup and revitalization.