Press Releases

Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3017, the Brownfields Enhancement Economic Redevelopment and Reauthorization Act of 2017, authored by Congressman David B. McKinley, P.E., (WV-1). This legislation reauthorizes and improves the Brownfields Program, which is a program designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. This legislation updates the program for the first time since 2006.  

“Abandoned industrial sites are an eyesore to the community and are detrimental to economic development. For those sites that qualify under this program, this bill will speed up our ability to mitigate the environmental hazards present. Across the Northern Panhandle and the rest of West Virginia we have hundreds of these sites, and the Brownfields Program has been an important tool to turn these abandoned eyesores into economic opportunity,” said McKinley.

“The strength of our nation is found in every community that continues to push toward a better tomorrow. The Brownfields bill will empower communities to clean up abandoned property and invest in new opportunities,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “Communities across the country have already used this program successfully and this authorization will increase local tax bases and allow previously unused areas to gain a second life. I applaud David for his work on this bill.”

Background

Brownfield sites are properties whose redevelopment or reuse is complicated by the potential presence of a hazardous substance, contaminant or pollutant. Since it was established in 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields Program has changed the way developers approach and manage the redevelopment of these properties. The EPA uses grants authorized in the program to empower states, communities and developers to safely assess, clean up and repurpose these brownfield sites.

This reauthorization is critical to ensure that full funding for the program continues. In addition to reauthorizing the Brownfields Program, this legislation makes some key improvements that will enable more sites to be redeveloped.

This bipartisan bill:

o   Makes important clarificationsrelated to CERCLA liability & petroleum sites.

o   Expands eligibilityfor non-profit organizations and eligible entities that owned these properties prior to the original enactment of the Brownfields Program so that they may receive brownfields grant funding.

o   Increases the limit for remediation grantsfrom $200,000 to $500,000.

o   Creates multipurpose grants,which will provide flexibility to communities trying to cleanup multiple brownfields sites within an area in the community.

o   Makes it easier for small, rural, or disadvantaged communities and tribes to participate in the brownfields program.

Earlier this year, Pietro Fiorentini, a supplier to the natural gas industry, broke ground on a new manufacturing facility located on a site in Weirton that was cleaned up through the Brownfields Program. This project has created jobs and spurred economic activity in the area. This is just one example of the investment that can be created by reclaiming these sites.

Brownfield projects also attract private investment into small and rural towns nationwide. The Business Development Corporation (BDC) in West Virginia has been the beneficiary of $2.5 million in EPA Brownfield Grants. They have successfully leveraged that into $70 million in private funding to develop brownfield properties.