The fiscal 2010 process began in earnest on May 7, with President Obama’s transmission of his budget request to Congress.

EPA brownfield program reauthorization has slowly started to gain some momentum in the 111th Congress, although no bills have yet been introduced. A broad brownfields reauthorization coalition has been established to encourage Congress to undertake brownfields reauthorization that would build on the program’s strong track record of success with key, targeted improvements.

Picking up the effort where it left off in the last Congress, the coalition is urging members to consider: larger cleanup grants and multi-purpose grants to more flexibly meet the full range of brownfield requirements; improvements to simplify and enhance program operations, such as greater use of institutional controls and better capacity to leverage RLFs; and strategies to better reflect the practical realities of the brownfield reuse process—strategies that recognize who does brownfields on the ground and acknowledges the realities of past land use practices.

Below are highlights from programs with an important impact on brownfield and sustainable development.

EPA brownfields appropriations

FY 2009 — $145.7 million
• $97.0 million for project grants
• $48.7 million for state VCP support

FY 2010 proposed — $149.5 million
• $100 million for project grants
• $49.5 million for state VCP support

EPA LUST/cleanup activities

            FY 2009 — $112.6 million
            FY 2010 proposed — $113.1 million

HUD/Community Development Block Grant appropriations

FY 2009 — $3.9 billion
• $3.64 billion in CDBG formula grants
• additional $150 million in EDI grants included

FY 2010 proposed — $4.45 billion
• $4.19 billion in CDBG formula grants
• $150 million Sustainable Communities Initiative
• additional $160 million in EDI grants projected
• allocation formula change being prepared to target more resources to areas of true distress

HUD/Section 108 loan guarantees

FY 2009 — $3.5 million
• supports $275 million in guarantees

FY 2010 proposed — zero
• suggests that these activities can be supported with CDBG

HUD/Brownfield Economic Development Initiative (BEDI)

FY 2009 — $10 million
• with rollover, $20 million

FY 2010 — zero
• suggests that these activities can be supported with CDBG

Economic Development Administration

FY 2009 — $230 million (key programs)
• planning grants — $31 million
• public works — $148 million
• economic adjustment — $35 million
• climate change initiative — $16 million

FY 2010 proposed — $245 million (key programs)
• planning grants — $31 million
• public works — $73 million
• economic adjustment – $125 million
• climate change initiative — $16 million

USDA/rural development programs

FY 2009 — programs most relevant to site reuse and sustainable development
• B&I guarantee authority — $1.13 billion
• intermediary re-lending program — $34 million
• community facility loans — $301 million
• community facility guarantees — $226 million

FY 2010 proposed — programs most relevant to site reuse and sustainable development
• B&I guarantee authority — $993 million
• intermediary re-lending program — $34 million
• community facility loans — $295 million
• community facility guarantees — $210 million

Other programs with potential linkage

Small Business Administration — FY 2010 proposed
• Section 7(a) loan guarantee authority — $17.5 billion
• Section 504 certified development company debentures — $7.5 billion
• Secondary market guarantees — $12 billion

Department of Energy – FY2010 proposed
• $2.3 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy

Other legislative initiatives introduced so far this year:
• HR 932/S453, the Community Regeneration, Sustainability, and Innovation Act of 2009, would direct HUD to make grants to local governments to carry out a sustainability demonstration program, to encourage and test innovative vacant property reclamation and urban infrastructure renewal strategies in older industrial cities, their suburbs, and metropolitan areas with a history of severe population and employment loss, blight, and decay caused by vacant properties.
• HR 1724, America’s Brownfield Cleanup Act 2009, amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a business tax credit for 50% of expenditures for the abatement or control of any hazardous substance, the demolition of any structure, the removal and disposal of property, and the reconstruction of utilities at certain contaminated sites.

Charlie Bartsch is a Senior Fellow, ICF International, Washington, D.C.