Senator Chafee Calls for Broader Brownfields Support

By Kevin McCarty
April 17, 2000

Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee weighed into the congressional brownfields debate, introducing two measures March 30 that would facilitate local cleanup efforts throughout the U.S.

Chafee is calling for revisions to the tax code, allowing private parties to “expense” cleanup costs at any brownfields sites located within a ‘metropolitan statistical area’ or MSA, urbanized places of the country where nearly four out of every five Americans now live.

Another measure would authorize $100 million annually over the next five fiscal years for brownfield cleanup efforts by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

Chafee, who is the former Mayor of Warwick, now chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control, and Risk Assessment, and has already publicly expressed his desire to seek legislative reforms and policies to help communities recycle abandoned and underutilized land, generally known as brownfields.

Under current law, cleanup costs can be “expensed” (i.e. deducted against tax liability in the year the costs are incurred) at sites which are located in certain EPA pilot grant areas and census tracts of high poverty, including certain industrial areas adjoining such tracts, and in empowerment zones and enterprise communities. The Administration previously secured congressional approval of this incentive, a proposal largely in response to the mayors’ call for tax incentives for brownfields cleanup and reuse. This current law incentive is due to expire at the end of 2001.

In Chafee’s tax proposal (S. 2334), expensing of cleanup costs could be claimed for any brownfield site located in an MSA, substantially expanding the coverage of current law. In addition, S. 2334 would extend this incentive for six years, through 2007.

Explaining his reasoning for the legislation, Chafee said, “I have heard complaints that parties eager to utilize the existing federal tax incentive have not done so for two reasons. The first reason is the limitation on the areas covered by the incentive…In addition, the tax incentive expires frequently, which creates uncertainty.”

Chafee’s other proposal, S. 2335, authorizes the Corps of Engineers to partner with cities on a 65/35 cost-share basis for remediation costs incurred at sites that are owned by local or state governments. The bill limits the Corps to a spending cap of $3.25 million at any one site, with the Secretary of Army authorized to raise the cap to $5 million. Remediation and restoration of the sites must be tied to the quality, conservation, and sustainable use of the nation’s waterways and watershed ecosystems.

In a statement introducing these measures, Chafee placed these proposals in the context of other brownfields legislation. “To complement these initiatives, I am announcing today that I intend to work on legislation to provide funding through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for assessment and cleanup of brownfields, and clarify liability to encourage the transfer of property,” he said.

Chafee also expressed his desire to see action on broader brownfields legislation this year. “I am hopeful that if we work in a bipartisan manner, we will be successful in passing brownfields legislation that the President can sign this year,” Chafee said.

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