USCM Action Alert: Support Full funding for EPA Brownfields Program

To: MWMA Membership

From: Judy Sheahan, Assistant Executive Director, The U.S. Conference of Mayors

Re: Brownfields Appropriations

Date: May 7, 2007

Next week, the Appropriation Subcommittees for both the House and Senate will be determining appropriation levels for all programs, as they prepare the Fiscal Year 2008 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill.

We urge you to call or write your representatives on the House and Senate side and ask for full appropriations for the EPA and HUD Brownfields program. It is vital that they include the full $250 million for the U.S. EPA Brownfields Program, which was authorized by the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2001 (the “Brownfields Revitalization Act”).

Funds under this program are used to assess and clean up brownfields such as abandoned or under-utilized warehouses, inactive factories, gas stations, salvage yards, vacant lots, contaminated properties, and other eyesores that plague virtually every community. These properties cause blight to neighborhoods, inhibit economic development, pose risks to public health and the environment, and erode the tax base of communities.

By any measure, the EPA Brownfields program has been tremendously successful. Since 1995, EPA has invested approximately $1.3 billion in brownfields site assessment and cleanup, leveraging $10 billion in cleanup and redevelopment dollars – a more than seven and a half-to-one return on public investment. EPA’s brownfields program has resulted in the assessment of more than 10,000 properties and helped to create more than 41,000 new jobs nationwide. These impressive numbers only tell part of the story, as communities across the country report that brownfields projects are often lynchpins to spurring larger revitalization efforts, increasing local tax revenue, and bringing new vitality to struggling neighborhoods and communities.

While the EPA Brownfields Program has helped numerous communities, much remains to be done. Experts estimate there remain as many as 1 million brownfield properties nationwide. These sites continue to blight neighborhoods, discourage new investment, and undermine economic progress in many communities. Historically, EPA has been able to fund only about one third of the qualified applicants for Federal brownfields grants – this figure will decline further this year, as the number of applications is at an all-time high.

Attached you will find sample letters along with a list of members of the Appropriations Committee. Please send this important message to the Hill and protect this valuable resource from being under funded.

Thank you again for your support on this topic of concern.

Judy M. Sheahan

Assistant Executive Director

The United States Conference of Mayors