Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) voted in support of H.R. 3017 – the Brownfields Enhancement, Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act of 2017. The Brownfields Program provides grants, tools, and guidance to help states, communities and other stakeholders in the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of brownfields.
“Developing brownfields sites encourages local job growth and protects the environment,” said Congresswoman Stefanik. “Our district is home to numerous brownfields sites, and my office has been pleased to help write letters of support for these local projects, including several successful grant applications for the Village of Lyons Falls. This bipartisan legislation passed out of the House today reauthorizes this important program and makes improvements aimed at allowing more brownfields sites to be cleaned and restored.”
The term ‘brownfields’ refers to abandoned or closed commercial or industrial
properties that may be contaminated because of their prior use and these sites often have significant redevelopment potential.
Cleaning up and reinvesting in brownfields increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment. EPA estimates that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S.
H.R. 3017 reauthorizes and makes improvements to the Brownfields Program.
- The Brownfields Program provides grants, tools, and guidance to help states, communities and other stakeholders in the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of brownfields
- Authorization for this program expired in 2006
- This bill reauthorizes Brownfields Program and makes the following improvements:
- Creates multipurpose grants, which allow communities to use grant funds for both assessment and remediation and to clean up more than one site in a designated area
- Allows states and local governments to acquire abandoned or tax delinquent property that is contaminated and to clean up the property without fear of liability
- Clarifies when a site contaminated by petroleum may be a brownfield site
- Increases the limit for remediation grants under the Brownfields Program and allows recovery of limited administrative costs
- Expands eligibility for nonprofit organizations and for eligible entities that took title to a brownfield site prior to January 11, 2001
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