In response to Jean Choi's inquiry, in addition to the EPA brownfields
grants to local governments, there are some industrial development bond
opportunities to finance brownfields efforts. On a brownfields project
on which I worked in New York, the successor use ( a new industrial
facility) was financed with Industrial Development Bonds, with the
cleanup done in part by the predecessor entity and in part by the
construction of the new facility. (For example, one part of the final
remedy was "capping" the site, which was accomplished by a
combination of the new building, the parking and truck holding area for
the new use, etc.).
You should note that for any such financing, having the brownfields
agreement in place is key, because bond underwriters will be very
sensitive to whether the amount financed is sufficient to get the new use
up and running -- that's the revenue source to repay the bonds. Any
question about the remedy or the amount it will take to accomplish the
remedy and get the facility up will cause major problems.
Chuck Patrizia
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker