U.S. Congress Considers Enhancements to EPA Brownfields Grant Program

CHICAGO - July 28, 2015 - PRLog -- On July 22, 2015, the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment held a hearing to discuss reauthorization of the EPA Brownfields Program. Among other things, the following concepts for changes to the Brownfields Program were discussed by participating House members and witnesses:

Increasing the allowed grant amount as much as 50%, to  $300,000;
Eliminating the requirement that 25% of funding be allocated to assessment and remediation of petroleum sites;
Allowing grant funds to be applied to any combination of assessment and/or remediation rather than having separate categories of grants for each;
Expanding eligibility for non-profit organizations;
Incentivizing rural EPA grants; and
Expanding and clarifying liability protections for municipalities.

As was mentioned during the hearing, the grant amounts have not changed since the 2005 authorization, and a “cost of living increase” was probably due. In order for the grant limit to be raised without a reduction in the number of grants issued, the Brownfields Program would also need to see an increase in funding.

Some other suggestions would have the effect of making the distribution of grant monies more efficient, regardless of whether grant limits and program funding are increased. For example, the elimination of the petroleum requirement was suggested because there are significantly fewer unremediated petroleum sites than there were in 2005, and elimination of the requirement would free up funds that could be put to better use on a wider range of sites.

It was also noted that an estimated 20% of grant-funded site assessments demonstrate the brownfield sites are uncontaminated. Allowing grant funds to be used for any combination of site assessment and remediation would presumably result in more “clean” sites being discovered and discharged from the program for redevelopment, with their environmental stigma removed. Increasing the amount of assessments could lead to the redevelopment and reuse of a larger number of properties after discovering they are not contaminated—just functionally obsolete or in disrepair (a “greyfield” on BrownfieldListings.com).

Incentivizing rural EPA grants will help reduce the development of greenspace. It was proposed that rural municipalities often fail to see the real value of brownfields redevelopment – or simply cannot afford the immediate costs – and instead encourage greenfield development, which has lower short-term costs but higher long-term costs that are not always immediately obvious, including sprawl and failure to remediate impacted drinking water sources.

It was noted that, unlike prospective purchasers and commercial developers, municipalities are often not actively seeking to possess brownfield properties. The liability associated with owning them can be burdensome on municipalities and has a chilling effect on the exercise of measures that would result in the municipality owning a brownfield. Expanded liability protection is important to limit this effect.

The Brownfield Listings Team hopes for Congressional reauthorization of EPA's Brownfields Program, which was originally voted through 99-0 in the Senate. Brownfields are bipartisan because the benefits of redevelopment are so clear, effective and impactful—and the public sector has played an important and vital role.  When the market breaks down or when market failure occurs in real estate, the public sector can step in with the only resources that may be able to advance a project.  To great success, every $1 in public funds spent through the EPA Brownfield Program has leveraged an average of almost $18 in follow-on private sector investment—cleaning up thousands of properties and revitalizing hundreds of neighborhoods at the same time.


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