[CPEO-BIF] Real Estate CEO Urges National Commitment to Recycling Brownfields;

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

To read the complete Press Release go to:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000629/dc_real_es.html

Thursday June 29, 6:37 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release

SOURCE: Real Estate Roundtable

Real Estate CEO Urges National Commitment to Recycling Brownfields; Senate
Bill Would Encourage Smart Reuse of Abandoned Land, Buildings

WASHINGTON, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Reforming the Superfund law to
transform thousands of mildly contaminated, abandoned sites into
productive, tax-generating properties would help local communities better
address sprawl, a leading real estate executive testified today before
Senate lawmakers.

Kevin P. Fitzpatrick, president and CEO of AIG Global Real Estate
Investment Corp., said real estate companies that own or acquire brownfield
sites are potentially liable for the entire cost of remediating any
hazardous substances on those sites - even if they did not cause any part
of the pollution in question. The threat of unlimited cleanup liability
can, thus, turn a $500,000 investment into a $10 million burden for
would-be brownfield redevelopers - and is the reason many prospective
purchasers walk away from real estate transactions involving any degree of
environmental contamination, he said.

Fitzpatrick, who chairs The Real Estate Roundtable's Environmental Policy
Advisory Committee, urged policymakers to enact the ``Brownfields
Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act of 2000'' (S. 2700). The
bill was the subject of today's hearing by the Senate Environment
Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control and Risk Assessment. Without the
liability changes envisioned by S. 2700, the threat of Superfund liability
remains a ``real deal-killer'' for real estate owners and investors,
Fitzpatrick concluded.

continued...
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000629/dc_real_es.html

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