The Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2010 (HR 5310)  has been introduced in the House by Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Joe Sestak (D-PA). The bill proposes boosting funding levels and making a series of changes to broaden eligibility, offer higher cleanup grant amounts, fund sustainability pilots, enhance assistance to disadvantaged and rural communities, and clarify local government liability protections in tax foreclosure actions.

 

While there is no Senate counterpart proposal for brownfields reauthorization to this point, there are “interesting proposals” that tie brownfields to renewable energy, said Evans Paull, Principal at Redevelopment Economics, who moderated a webinar June 1 along with Jessica Goad, Policy Fellow at the Wilderness Society.

Among those proposals are two bills introduced by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ): S 3329, a bill to grant triple credits under the renewable electricity standards being considered in the Senate energy bill (ACELA); and S 3374, which establishes a new grant program to “revitalize brownfield sites for the purpose of locating renewable electricity generation facilities on those sites.”

 

These proposals were outlined during the hour-long webinar, which was hosted by the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP) and the Brownfield Communities Network (BCN).

To put matters in perspective, Paull said the House proposal has been “four years in the making” starting when the former brownfield reauthorization act expired in 2006. “The road we have traveled has been difficult, but I think we’ve been able to get a decent reauthorization bill in place,” said Paull, adding that the inroads thus far have been only made in the House chamber and is hoping for Senate push on the matter in the near future.

One key component of the Pallone-Sestak measure is that it will greatly expand the flexibility of how grant monies are directed. “[In the Pallone-Sestak measure] grants are more multi-purpose than under the former reauthorization act, which was far more ‘compartmentalized,’ with a lot of different rules. This measure allows grantees to move money around in the context of site assessment, a state’s revolving loan fund (RLF) and cleanup. Grant funds [in this proposal] are directed to the highest-priority sites.”

The Pallone-Sestak measure also would lower the barriers for rural and disadvantaged communities to participate in community brownfields initiatives. And it would allow grant administrators to allocate 10% of the grants for the purpose of covering administration funding.

For a copy of the presentation given during the webcast, log on to: http://www.nalgep.org/ewebeditpro/items/O93F23236.pdf