By Ted Fischer and Brett Rosenberg
November 20, 2006

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced the “National Brownfields Agenda for the 110th Congress” – an initiative spearheaded by The U.S. Conference of Mayors and a coalition of brownfields leaders. Menino welcomed over 2,500 participants to Boston for the Annual Brownfield Conference. Menino outlined a national broad-based action plan that would restore formerly contaminated properties to productive use.

“America has seen a decade of progress on brownfields redevelopment. We are now ready for a new era of reclaiming and revitalizing these properties,” Menino said. “As part of this new era, we hope to see new laws and new resources at the federal level to meet our nation’s brownfields needs and I am honored to be joined by those representing the national brownfields coalition to put forth this national agenda.”

The national agenda calls on Congress to reauthorize the Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002 to provide more EPA resources to meet local needs, provide new incentives for the reuse of mothballed properties, make funding more user friendly and flexible and provide targeted support for top brownfield challenges in small, rural and disadvantaged communities and in the sustainable green reuse of brownfields. Although such programs have experienced success, over one million brownfield sites remain to be converted to productive use across the country.

The new national brownfields agenda is supported by a diverse coalition of 15 national organizations from communities represented by The U.S. Conference of Mayors, the International City Managers, the National Association of Counties, and the National Association of Towns to developers represented by the National Association of Homebuilders and the Real Estate Roundtable.

During the White House briefing, a staple of the annual Brownfields Conference, local officials had an opportunity to listen to some of the Administration’s positions on several matters, including energy security, the war in Iraq, immigration, and tax policy. The forum also provided the opportunity for local officials to communicate some of their concerns. James Hunt, Chief of Energy and Environmental Services for Boston, speaking on behalf of Menino and The U.S. Conference of Mayors, reintroduced the National Brownfields Agenda for the benefit of Administration representatives. Other local officials voiced strong concern that the current national brownfields program does not provide sufficient resources for the needs of many communities; particularly, grants and loans often barely cover the clean-up costs, let alone the necessary monitoring and redevelopment costs for projects in smaller cities with struggling economies.