The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), known as "Superfund" was enacted in 1980 to stop the irresponsible discharge of pollutants to the environment. It accomplished this by holding entities to a very strict liability regime, making owners of sites fully responsible for any and all costs to rid these properties of contamination. The consequences of these strict liability standards can be seen in every city and county in the thousands of properties, known as "brownfields", which have been rendered largely unusable for development. Brownfields are abandoned or underutilized properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.

The United States Conference of Mayors calls upon the President, Congress, and other affected parties to remedy these effects and enact the following measures:

1. Liability protection should be provided to innocent parties involved with brownfield redevelopment;

2. Tax incentives should be made available to attract potential investors to brownfield sites;

3. Federal program resources should be significantly increased to assist cities with site assessment, cleanup, redevelopment, infrastructure improvements, and related needs;

4. Redevelopment should be encouraged through support for voluntary cleanup initiatives and development of standards based on the future uses of the brownfield sites;

5. National attention should be drawn to the quality of life and the economic impact of brownfield sites including the cost of sprawl;

6. Local governments should have regulatory flexibility and be given latitude in the use of federal resources to address their brownfields needs;

7. Partnerships should be established to involve a broad range of affected parties in brownfields redevelopment; and

8. Prevention strategies should be developed to prevent properties from becoming future brownfield sites.

The following expand on these eight principles.

Changes are needed in the areas of liability reform for innocent parties as well as tax and financial incentives to accelerate the redevelopment of brownfield sites.

LIABILITY REFORMS

Financial institutions and private sector developers are unwilling to risk investment in the redevelopment of contaminated land out of fear of known or unknown cleanup liability. Removing such liability would significantly reduce financial risk and spur private investment and development in brownfield sites.

Action Items:

• Liability protection should be provided for innocent parties including, but not limited to, lenders, purchasers, redevelopers, and other blameless third-parties.

• Liability protection should be provided to local governments who become owners of contaminated properties.

• Liability protection should be provided to entities who participate in voluntary cleanup programs.

TAX INCENTIVES

A variety of incentives are required to attract private investment to properties that have remained abandoned due to the stigma of environmental contamination. Tax credits are necessary to overcome the risk of investing in contaminated land as well as neighborhoods that suffer significant blight.

Action Items:

• The Administration and Congress should establish a targeted remediation tax credit program that would be administered by states and local governments.

• Tax credits should apply directly to a certain percentage of removal and remediation costs incurred by the private sector in developing brownfields in distressed communities.

• Tax exempt financing should be provided for private remediation of brownfield sites.

PROGRAM RESOURCES

Beyond liability protection, the first critical step to attracting private sector investment to brownfield sites is an environmental assessment and site characterization to determine the extent of environmental contamination and the cost of removal or remediation. After this step is completed, additional incentives or resources may be needed to attract further investment.

Action Items:

• Funds should be set-aside either from the Superfund Trust Fund or general revenues to provide resources to local governments to develop brownfield site inventories, site assessments, and brownfield redevelopment strategies, the main goal of which would be to attract private investment.

• EPA should expand their Brownfields Initiative to include funds for preparation and implementation of Brownfield redevelopment strategies.

• Federal funds should be made available for the creation and capitalization of local revolving loan funds for local governments or the private sector to perform activities such as removal, remediation, and small business development at brownfield sites.

• HUD should provide resources to accelerate actual redevelopment, through leveraging private sector investment and other means, to move beyond cleanup and remediation.

• In addition to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Treasury, all agencies need to explore ways in which they can provide resources to assist with brownfield redevelopment.

Local governments can not solve the problems associated with brownfield redevelopment alone. The need to develop partnerships with the private sector, federal agencies, and the various levels of the government is vital to successfully redevelop these properties.

CREATION OF A PUBLIC/PRIVATE FORUM

It is vitally important that we seek the input of all parties who are interested in brownfield redevelopment to fully explore all of the needs/creative solutions that are available.

Action Items:

• Ongoing forums should be established that would bring together the lending institutions, insurance companies, real estate developers, businesses, environmentalists, community groups, federal agencies and locally elected officials to identify barriers to brownfield redevelopment and potential solutions.

• Information provided at these forums should be presented to all relevant parties including the Administration, Congress, local governments, national associations and the public.

• A coalition should be established between urban and rural interests to discuss the preservation of our nation's farmlands, forests, and green spaces.

MULTIAGENCY APPROACH

Since the problem of brownfield redevelopment is multifaceted, there needs to be a multiagency approach to assist cities with the solutions. Brownfield redevelopment deals with matters involving the environment, public health, economic development, job creation, and infrastructure to name a few.

Action Items:

• All federal agencies need to examine their policies and programs to determine if their policies promote brownfield redevelopment, cause the creation of additional brownfield sites or promote the development of green spaces. All policies should reflect the Administration's commitment to brownfield redevelopment and green space preservation.

• The Department of Transportation should explore the impact that ISTEA programs and funding have on promoting brownfield vs. greenfield development.

• The Department of Labor should encourage job training for brownfield redevelopment including the field of environmental cleanup and remediation.

• The Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration should encourage business development at brownfield sites.

• Since many brownfield sites are in high unemployment areas, the Department of Labor should actively pursue welfare-to-work programs that assist businesses who locate at former brownfield sites.

• GSA should explore provisions that would encourage federal agencies to relocate to brownfield sites.

FEDERAL/STATE/LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS

Certain issues that face brownfield redevelopment, such as voluntary cleanup programs and standards deal with multiple levels of the government. Therefore, a collaborative approach to these issues is needed to provide universal standards so as to avoid discrepancies from location to location.

CLEANUP STANDARDS

Selection of cleanup standards based on a property's end use can result in significant savings for the developer and enhance the likelihood that a facility will be remediated and redeveloped. For example, properties whose end use is industrial should not have to meet cleanup standards for residential use. Basing cleanup standards on a property’s end-use would protect public health and the environment while providing added incentive for the public and private sectors to cleanup properties that otherwise would remain unremediated and undeveloped.

Action Items:

• Redevelopment should be encouraged through the development of standards based on the future uses of the brownfield sites.

Voluntary Cleanup Programs

Many cities and states are beginning to explore or have enacted Voluntary Cleanup Programs. Although these programs differ, many of these programs deal with the issue of finality. Finality gives assurance to a company who completes an approved cleanup program will not be held liable at a future date. Finality at the state or local level is usually in the form of "Covenants not to sue" and "Memorandums of Understanding" agreements. Although this type of assurance has been somewhat effective, businesses are still somewhat skeptical that this type of agreement would protect them from being held liable in the future.

Action Items:

• The Federal government needs to give assurance from liability to businesses who participate in a voluntary cleanup program.

Since each brownfield site poses its own unique set of circumstances, local governments should have regulatory flexibility and be given latitude in the use of federal and state resources to address these needs. In addition, federal agencies need to create policies and programs that promote brownfield redevelopment and curbing urban sprawl.