[CPEO-BIF] House Brownfields hearings

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Testimony from the June 8, 2006 House Subcommittee on Water Resources 
and Environment, of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, 
Hearing on Reauthorization of the Brownfields Program - Successes and 
Future Changes is now available on line at 
http://www.house.gov/transportation/water/06-06-08/06-06-08memo.html.

The following is the subcommittee's Issues statement:

"Although the Brownfields Program is generally well received, some have 
suggested changes be considered along with reauthorization of the 
funding. These include allowing the grants to be for multiple purposes 
so that they are not just for assessment or cleanup. Multiple purposes 
could include assessment, cleanup, and demolition. In addition, the 
grant limits per site could be raised, although without additional 
funding, even fewer than one-third of eligible recipients could receive 
funding if grant limits increase. In addition, some have suggested 
eliminating the 25% funding set aside for petroleum site grants letting 
them compete with other sites for priority and funding.

"Another issue related to the program is that there are no performance 
measures available to determine the extent to which the program is 
achieving its goals. While the Environmental Protection Agency does 
report on the cumulative sites addressed, jobs generated, and the 
cleanup and redevelopment funds leveraged, there has been little 
reporting on cleanup and redevelopment activities, which is one of the 
primary objectives of the program. In addition, the Environmental 
Protection Agency has not developed measures to determine how the 
Brownfields Program has reduced environmental risks, thereby meeting the 
agency mission to protect human health and the environment."




--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
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