Brownfields continue to be one of the most dynamic and complicated development issues that governments at all levels face. During 1999, the “state of the state” of brownfields continued to evolve and mature. State-level creativity and innovation in meeting a wide range of brownfield site assessment, cleanup, and financing needs has been the hallmark of this issue. Many viable — and alternative — approaches have been put into place to meet the multiple challenges and common objectives of brownfield reuse.

After a flurry of activity last year, many states used 1999 as a “settling in” period for their voluntary cleanup programs — finalizing policies and rules, and allowing the programs to take hold and operate at the project level. Several states, however, made significant changes to their program efforts. For example, Massachusetts adopted several financing incentives, including a state-supported environmental insurance initiative. Pennsylvania put new efforts in place to support basic activities — site inventories, assessments, cleanup plans. Nevada adopted a VCP for the first time. Across the country, elected officials and program administrative staffs made numerous efforts to make sure that their programs reflected local brownfield project needs as best they could, ran as smoothly as possible, and took advantage of opportunities to tie brownfield cleanup and redevelopment assistance with regulatory incentives. ...

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