From: | "Robert Hersh" <b_hersh@verizon.net> |
Date: | 22 Jun 2007 13:34:29 -0000 |
Reply: | cpeo-brownfields |
Subject: | [CPEO-BIF] NY BF program seen as economic boondoggle |
New York State Brownfield Program Is Boondoggle, Critics Say The Sun By JACOB GERSHMAN June 21, 2007 ALBANY - In 2003, when state lawmakers ended years of deadlock and approved legislation giving financial incentives for developers to clean up and build on hundreds of acres of polluted industrial wastelands, Governor Pataki heralded the new law as a "historic" victory for the environment. For the first time, New York would regulate the rehabilitation of mildly contaminated sites that aren't polluted enough to qualify for Superfund clean-up money, called brownfields. The new program awarded developers with millions of dollars in refundable tax credits to pay for removing toxins from the land and spur redevelopment. New data provided by the Spitzer administration, however, show that only a fraction of the money the state has spent on the Brownfield Cleanup Program has actually been used to clean up the polluted sites. Of the $1 billion the state is required to give to developers for 54 sites over the next five years, $700 million is going toward paying for the construction of buildings and parking lots, according to state records. Only $300 million is being spent on toxin removal. For the entire article, see: http://www.nysun.com/article/57019 Bob Hersh _______________________________________________ Brownfields mailing list Brownfields@list.cpeo.org http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/brownfields | |
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