NACo supports brownfield redevelopment funding

Leon County, Fla. Commissioner John Dailey offers modifcation suggestions for EPA brownfields program 

Counties can use brownfield sites to drive economic development, but they need support from the federal government to make the most of these opportunities.

That was the message Leon County, Fla. Commissioner John Dailey took to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee March 28, when he testified on NACo’s behalf.

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EPA's Brownfields Program

He described counties’ role in brownfield redevelopment projects, in which they are often responsible for local land use planning, zoning, economic development and environmental enforcement and monitoring.

“We completely transformed the area, it’s vibrant,” Dailey said of a 450-acre site in Leon County that was once home to a rail depot and chemical warehouses. “It now includes shops, restaurants, pubs, hotels, private housing and our small business incubator. The corridor has brought 200 new jobs, it has increased the tax value by $130 million and it’s attracted 3,000 new residents.”

Dailey discussed how the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) brownfields program helps counties redevelop unused or abandoned brownfield sites to promote economic development and revitalize local communities.

“These many responsibilities allow us to see the big picture for our communities and direct our focus on areas that would most benefit from brownfields redevelopment projects,” he said.

Dailey’s testimony highlighted the number of successful county brownfields projects across the nation.

However, he also noted that there are over 400,000 brownfield sites that have yet to be cleaned up. Dailey urged Congress to consider revisions to federal brownfields policies to ensure that local governments can clean up and develop more sites as part of their overall comprehensive plans.

Dailey recommended several specific modifications Congress could make to the program:

• Maintain or even increase funding for EPA’s brownfields program.
• Create a multipurpose grant that would allow local governments to apply for one grant, rather than multiple brownfields grants to clean up a site.
• Exempt local governments from liability if they neither caused nor contributed to the contamination and exercised due care with contaminants once they acquired the site.

EPA’s brownfields program was originally authorized in 2002 through the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (P.L. 107-118).

EPA’s brownfields program provides technical assistance and grants for communities to undertake brownfields projects.

While the program’s authorization expired in 2006, Congress has continued to fund the program on an annual basis.

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Charlie Ban, senior staff writer, contributed to this report.