[CPEO-BIF] "Michigan Brownfield Redevelopment Controversies"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Michigan Brownfield Redevelopment Controversies  	

by Jeffrey Astrein
Michigan Policy network
August 9, 2009

Brownfield redevelopment has become an important subject matter among 
environmentalists and politicians in federal and state governments. The 
term brownfield redevelopment refers to projects implemented by federal 
and state governments to redevelop land parcels that are abandoned or 
sitting idle where industrial and commercial facilities complicate 
redevelopment due to environmental contamination. In Michigan, there is 
an abundance of areas in need for brownfield redevelopment some of which 
are more important than others. Michigan is a leader in brownfield 
programs, but how successful is it?

In Michigan, brownfield redevelopment was made possible through federal 
policies by numerous environmental policy reforms passed over the years 
through state legislation and state executive order. Brownfield 
redevelopment was seen as a "traditional environmental stewardship 
effort to improve the cleanup capacity of the state". In 2000, the state 
legislature put more emphasis on brownfield redevelopment programs by 
expanding them to include functionally obsolete buildings in Michigan 
core cities even if they contained no toxic contamination. The main 
controversy about Michigan's brownfield redevelopment programs is 
whether or not the state is spending their money properly in making 
successful redevelopments.

...

For the entire article, see
http://michiganpolicy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=545:michigan-brownfield-redevelopment-controversies&catid=39:energy-and-environment-policy-briefs&Itemid=138

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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