[CPEO-BIF] Taft signs environmental bonding bill providing greenspace/brownfie

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[To all subscribers FYI] 
[From Patrick Brobeck ]
pbrobeck@odod.state.oh.us 


Gongwer News Service - 95 Years of Legislative Reporting in Ohio 
124th Ohio General Assembly 
Ohio Report No. 145, Volume 70 - Thursday, July 26, 2001 

TAFT SIGNS ENVIRONMENTAL BONDING BILL PROVIDING GREENSPACE/BROWNFIELD PROJECT
MONEY 

Ohio's local governments can begin drawing from a $400 million pot of money to
help spur the redevelopment of abandoned industrial sites and preserve
greenspace, under terms of a bill (HB 3) that Governor Bob Taft signed into law
on Thursday.

At a signing ceremony at Schiller Park in Columbus' German Village, Mr. Taft
said the law will improve Ohioans' quality of life and will leave the state
better off both economically and environmentally. "We all want clean water,
greenspace and recreational trails," he said. "We want to have our cities as
places where people can prosper and people can go to work. The Clean Ohio Fund
makes that possible. The real work begins now."
The bill signing brings to an end an extensive process to implement the program
that was authorized by voters with the adoption of a constitutional amendment
last November.
Mr. Taft said the brownfield sections will help local communities spur
redevelopment efforts, saying those clean ups will likely help create jobs that
were lost when industrial sites were abandoned. He also touched specifically on
allocations set aside for recreational trail development and farmland
preservation efforts.
Mr. Taft acknowledged concerns that the money will fall short of the demand.
"It sounds like a lot of money, but statewide, it will be a stretch," he said,
noting that voters authorized use of bonds that can be issued well into the
future. "Over time, I'm hopeful it's going to have a huge impact on improving
the quality of our recreational opportunities, on the quality of our water, the
amount of greenspace and farmland preserved and also the number of these aging
industrial sites...that need to be reused."

Rep. Charles Blasdel (R-E. Liverpool), the bill's sponsor, agreed that the
state should try to make more money available for the program in the future.
"This is only the beginning point," he said. Rep. Nancy Hollister (R-Marietta),
chair of the House Energy & Environment Committee, said interested parties were
instrumental in shaping the bill. "The end result was absolutely fantastic
public policy," she said.

The bill specifies that $200 million each will be deposited into the Clean Ohio
Revitalization Fund, which will deal with brownfield remediation efforts and
the Clean Ohio Conservation Fund, which would allocate money for greenspace
programs.

The size of brownfields-related loans or grants is capped at $3 million,
although the law can fund public health projects up to $25 million. The law
specifies that applicants for brownfield funds must sign affidavits confirming
that they are in no way responsible for the contamination at the site to be
cleaned and permits the party seeking the funds to pursue a covenant not to sue
under the Ohio EPA's Voluntary Action Program.

As for the conservation fund, $150 million will be administered by the Ohio
Public Works Commission through local councils and $25 million each will be
dedicated to farmland preservation and statewide recreational trails.
Applications for the money must include commitments for a 25% local match.

The Ohio Environmental Council's Jack Shaner said the law, despite some
shortcomings, will bring about improvements for the state. He credited Mr. Taft
with bringing the issue to the forefront, saying it took his "visionary
leadership" to get the issue seriously before lawmakers. Mr. Shaner noted that
his organization would have preferred to see tighter language regarding the
award of brownfield funds.

The bill also appropriates funds to a handful of state agencies that will
jointly administer the program. "We are very hopeful that will be enough
administrative monies to manage the Clean Ohio Fund," Mr. Taft said after the
signing ceremony. "But, in the event that we don't have enough, we'll seek ways
to find it. We'll reorder our priorities or try to transfer monies in from some
source."

Mr. Blasdel and the governor praised language giving communities the
opportunity to rank the projects they feel should be funded first. "I think
were going to have to listen very carefully to the priorities of local
communities and try to make sure the process is fair to all concerned," Mr.
Taft said.

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