U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) and U.S. Representative Daniel Maffei (D–DeWitt) today announced their support to reauthorize and improve programs to cleanup and redevelop brownfield sites.
The Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development (Build) Act, would jumpstart development efforts and provide additional resources and for sites in need of redevelopment, they said.
Congressional authorization for the Brownfield program lapsed at the end of 2006, the lawmakers said.
A brownfield site is defined as a property that might include “the presence or potential presence of a contaminant,” according to the websites of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The proposed measure would allow local municipalities and nonprofit organizations access to more money, tools and resources as they work toward project completion as well as help to create and sustain jobs.
The lawmakers spoke in a morning event at the Syracuse Community Health Center’s (SCHC) new health-care campus project, a location that Gillibrand and Maffei see as a site that would benefit from the renewal of the cleanup program.
Gillibrand believes Congress could pass the legislation “this year.”
“Specifically, the bill recognizes that the cost of cleaning up past contamination is a barrier to bringing brownfield sites back into markets by increasing the funding ceiling for cleanup grants and allowing funds to be used also for administrative costs,” Gillibrand said during her remarks.
Redevelopment of a brownfield site “is very expensive,” and can cost an average of more than $600,000, Deborah Warner, vice president of public policy and government relations at CenterState CEO, said during her remarks.
The proposed bill addresses increased grant funding, according to Gillibrand.
“That’s one of the changes in the bill. It increases the grant size to $500,000 so it can cover more of the cost,” Gillibrand said.
The bill would increase the limit for site-remediation grants from the current $200,000 to $500,000 per site, and gives the EPA administrator discretion to raise the limit further to $650,000, according to a document posted at website smartgrowthamerica.org.
Smart Growth America is a Washington, D.C.–based organization that “advocates for people who want to live and work in great neighborhoods,” according to its website.
The SCHC’s proposed development site at 930 S. Salina St. is seen as a “priority” site due to its proximity to the city’s central-business district, Gillibrand and Maffei said.
SCHC has plans to build a new health-care campus on the site, which is seen as a “perfect” example of the kind of project the Brownfield Act will help to nurture and support, Charles Conole, chairman of the SCHC, Inc. board of directors, said in the lawmakers’ news release.
When a reporter asked if the SCHC needs the legislation to move forward with its project, Dr. Ruben Cowart, founder, president, and CEO of the Syracuse Community Health Center, responded, “Of course we need this act.”
The organization wants to expand its operations and construct a new facility at the site. It would require razing an “unsightly” vacant building on the site and improving the site’s environmental conditions, according to the news release.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com