Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 631, I call up the bill (H.R. 3017) to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to reauthorize and improve the brownfields program, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 3017.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3017, the Brownfields Enhancement, Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act of 2017. This legislation has broad bipartisan support, and I would like to thank Chairman Walden and Ranking Members Pallone and Tonko.

I would also like to specifically thank a few of my colleagues who have exhibited leadership and commitment on this issue, Congressman David McKinley, my fellow Energy and Commerce Committee member, who introduced this important bill, and my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Congressman John Katko and Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty who guided a similar bill through their committee.

We have been working closely with our colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee over these past few months, and the bill that we will vote on today reflects compromise on both sides.

The bill takes a very important step in reauthorizing the Environmental Protection Agency's brownfields program for the first time since the law was enacted, and so I would like to also thank Chairman Shuster for his leadership and support as we move forward.

The bill we are voting on today makes several important changes to the brownfields law that will result in more contaminated sites being cleaned up and returned to productive use, such as the creation of multipurpose grants, which will allow communities to use grant funds for both assessment and remediation, as well as allow communities to clean up more than one site in a designated area.

The bill also provides liability relief to States and municipalities who voluntarily acquire brownfields property through their authority as a sovereign, which will allow local units of government to address contamination on property they acquire through tax delinquency, bankruptcy, and/or abandonment.

The bill expands grant eligibility for nonprofit organizations and for publicly owned brownfields sites that acquired the property prior to January 11, 2002, which will put more parties into the mix of persons eligible for grant funding, which will result in more sites being assessed and cleaned up.

The legislation increases the limit for remediation grants from $200,000 to $500,000. As we learned from witnesses at our hearings, this will result in more brownfields sites being cleaned up because many of the sites that remain to be addressed are more complicated and, therefore, more expensive.

The bill provides for a limited amount of grant funds to be used for administrative costs, which will allow small and rural communities to be able to receive and utilize grant funds, and it carves out grant money to assist Indian Tribes in small, rural, and disadvantaged communities as they work to assess and clean up contaminated properties.

The EPA brownfields program is critical to States and local communities as they address contaminated industrial and commercial properties and return them to productive use. Cleaning up these sites is great for the economy because brownfields grants can be directly leveraged into jobs, additional redevelopment funds, and increased residential and commercial property values.

In fact, the brownfields program, on average, leverages over $16 in private investment for every Federal dollar spent and leverages 8\1/2\ jobs for every $100,000 of brownfields funds expended on assessment and cleanup.

The brownfields program is a proven results-driven program that has changed the way contaminated property is perceived, addressed, and managed. A visible, national example of the brownfields program at work was the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers facing off in game three of the World Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. Minute Maid Park sits on a former brownfields site that the city of Houston redeveloped and obviously returned to a very productive reuse, especially for the Astros.

The EPA brownfields program is uniquely positioned to protect the environment and spur the economy. You can tell, from the broad bipartisan support that H.R. 3017 enjoys, the support for the EPA brownfields program is unqualified. The program has strong support from local and State governments, private developers, and all sectors of the economy.

Because brownfields funding is so important to States and local communities across the country, I want to encourage my colleagues on the appropriations committee to fully fund this important and successful program.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure,

Washington, DC, November 9, 2017.

Hon. Greg Walden,

Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce,

Washington, DC.

I write concerning H.R. 3017, the Brownfields Enhancement,

Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act of 2017. This

legislation includes matters that fall within the Rule X

jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure.

I recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this

legislation before the House of Representatives in an

expeditious manner, and accordingly, the Committee on

Transportation and Infrastructure will forego action on the

bill. However, this is conditional on our mutual

understanding that foregoing consideration of the bill does

not prejudice the Committee with respect to the appointment

of conferees or to any future jurisdictional claim over the

subject matters contained in the bill or similar legislation

that fall within the Committee's Rule X jurisdiction.

Further, this is conditional on our understanding that

mutually agreed upon changes to the legislation will be

incorporated into the bill prior to floor consideration.

Lastly, should a conference on the bill be necessary, I

request your support for the appointment of conferees from

the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure during any

House-Senate conference convened on this or related

legislation.

I would ask that a copy of this letter and your response

acknowledging our jurisdictional interest as well as the

mutually agreed upon changes to be incorporated into the bill

be included in the Congressional Record during consideration

of the measure on the House floor, to memorialize our

understanding.

I look forward to working with the Committee on Energy and

Commerce as the bill moves through the legislative process.

Sincerely,

Bill Shuster,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden), the chairman of the full committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. McKinley), the author of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Katko), a cosponsor of the legislation and also a major leader on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Gibbs), who is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Faso), a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

(Mr. FASO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, the bill we are voting on today makes several important changes to the brownfields law that will result in more contaminated sites being cleaned up.

The changes we are making also bring more parties into the process by clarifying their eligibility to receive funding under the brownfields program, including making nonprofit entities eligible to receive all forms of brownfields funding.

Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency provided us technical assistance a week ago, telling us that the definition we used for how to delineate which nonprofit organizations should be included was too limited, and would exclude a number of important organizations that the EPA currently provides funding to through the brownfields program, including the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials, commonly known as ASTSWMO, and other entities organized under section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code that are involved in the cleanup of brownfields sites around the country.

We need to address this issue as this process moves forward. We need to figure out how to ensure that these organizations do not lose the funding that they rely on to make significant contributions to the brownfields program.

Does the gentleman agree?

I thank the gentleman for his courtesies.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Poliquin).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am just going to sum up, too, with thanking my ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Pallone; obviously, my ranking member on the subcommittee, Mr. Tonko; the associated staffs on both that had been mentioned numerous times. They did a lot of work in this process. It was good to get to know the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee a little bit better, and we look forward to working with them more.

I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield the time to the gentleman. They tell me what to do sometimes, also, even on that side of the

aisle; so, happy to yield. I just want to thank them.

Mr. Speaker, everybody has examples of brownfields in their district throughout the State. They are all pretty good stories about returning them to productive use.

I have one produced by the EPA from Danville, Illinois. There are eight sites. We can go through them.

The point is, here is a successful program that we have authorized. Our appropriators helped appropriate money that really leverages a little bit of Federal dollars with private or local community dollars to bring these locations back to productive use. It is a good effort.

Mr. Speaker, we have got other things on the horizon to work together on. I enjoyed the opportunity to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, I ask them to vote yes on the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, EPA's brownfields program has changed the way contaminated property is perceived, addressed, and managed. I was proud to work with the late Republican Congressman Paul Gillmor in creating the brownfields program back in 2002, and I am proud to be here once again today as we bring up a bipartisan reauthorization of this law.

I want to thank our Environment Subcommittee, Chairman Shimkus, Ranking Member Tonko, our full committee chairman, Mr. Walden, for all their work in getting us to this point today, and, also, my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

By almost any metric, the brownfields program has been a remarkable success. Since the program's inception, more than 27,000 contaminated sites have been assessed or remediated, allowing communities to create new developments.

Removing public health hazards by cleaning up contaminated sites is incredibly important for the surrounding communities. With financial help from the Federal Government, communities can clean up contaminated sites and prepare them for development for parks, commerce, housing, or a number of other uses that can benefit a local community.

The EPA has found that cleaning up underutilized or abandoned brownfields properties reduces health risks, decreases pollution, and reduces storm water runoff. But this is not just a program that provides environmental benefits. It is a job creator that primes the pump for local investment and development. All told, the brownfields program has leveraged over $45 billion in investments surrounding these sites and almost 130,000 jobs, which is a stunning return on the Federal Government's modest investment in the program.

Simply put, it provides tremendous value to the Federal Government and a boost to the economy in local communities. The brownfields program has been an incredibly important tool for protecting public health and spurring economic growth in New Jersey and throughout the country.

The original authorization for the program expired in 2006, and while Congress has continued to appropriate resources for the program, funding has declined. Last year, there was a question as to whether the President would request any funding for this important program.

So it is important that we reauthorize the brownfields program. I stress the need for continued funding. H.R. 3017 is a bipartisan bill that reauthorizes the program until 2022, at $200 million annually, and reinstates a $50 million annual authorization for grants to assist States and Native American Tribes. And it makes important reforms to improve the flexibility of the brownfields program: authorizing multipurpose grants; raising the limits for grants per site; and removing some funding caps in current law.

Mr. Speaker, the bill also allows EPA to reserve as much as $1.5 million in brownfields funding each year to assist small communities, Tribes, and rural or disadvantaged areas. Grants could be used for training, research, and technical assistance. Additionally, H.R. 3017 would require the EPA to consider the potential for renewable energy production when ranking applications for brownfields grants to incentivize green energy projects.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is a compromise. I would have liked to include more funding for this important program, but I believe this bill will improve the program and bolster the Federal Government in cleaning up these sites, and I support the bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), who is the ranking member of the Environment Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio), the ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Dingell).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains on both sides?

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson), the ranking member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Napolitano).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. Esty).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to enter into a colloquy.

I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

Yes. And I thank the gentleman for raising this drafting issue. The bill's provisions on nonprofit entities were meant to reflect the EPA's current practice. It now appears that we have inadvertently excluded some organizations that receive grants under that current practice.

It is unfortunate that the technical assistance bringing this issue to our attention was provided so late in the process, but I hope we can work together to ensure that the EPA is providing testimony and technical assistance in a much more timely fashion moving forward.

So I want to thank the gentleman for working with Democrats to develop this legislation, which will provide significant environmental and public health benefits. I believe we can continue to work together as we move this bill into law to address this drafting issue.

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers, so I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to close by talking about how important this program has been to our Nation and, in particular, to my home State, since it was created back in 2002.

New Jersey has too many of these types of contaminated sites, and we need Federal help to clean them up and redevelop them.

For example, a former Dupont property on the waterfront in Carteret is being redeveloped to be a ferry terminal to carry commuters to New York City. That site is a great example of how a redeveloped brownfields site can be beneficial for the community.

Asbury Park, another town in my district, received two substantial Federal brownfields grants last year. One of those grants is being used to assess eight contaminated sites and prepare two cleanup plans. The other grant is going to assessing and redeveloping sites around the train station and the downtown area that were contaminated with petroleum.

Just this week, I visited another brownfields site being redeveloped in my district, the Woodbridge Waterfront Park. When completed, the waterfront park will include approximately 30 acres of restored wetlands, walking trails, a boardwalk overlooking the wetlands, and a viewing platform on the Raritan River. So Federal funds through the brownfields program help make these projects happen.

The brownfields program is proof that having a strong economy and protecting the environment is not an either/or issue. We can have both.

I am pleased to support this bipartisan bill. I would urge all of my colleagues to vote for it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, I forgot to thank some of the staff who worked so hard on this on my side of the aisle: Jaqueline Cohen, who is sitting here; Rick Kessler; Tuley Wright; Mary Martin; and I know there were others.

I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3017, the Brownfields Enhancement, Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act of 2017, sponsored by our fellow Energy and Commerce Committee member, the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. McKinley). We thank him for his leadership on this.

I especially want to thank John Shimkus, the chairman of the Environment Subcommittee, for his leadership in getting this done, along with Mr. Pallone and Mr. Tonko, who played key roles, along with other members of the committee to bring this legislation to the floor and bring it here with unanimous support from the Energy and Commerce Committee.

What are brownfields? Well, they are vacant, underused, and often contaminated properties that are a blight on local communities across our Nation. The EPA's brownfields program is a successful, results- oriented program, and it provides grants to assess and clean up these polluted areas.

Since the brownfields program's inception, more than 27,000 contaminated sites have been remediated, allowing communities across the country to return them to productive use. Cleaning up brownfields sites increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth and wage increases, promotes the development of new infrastructure, improves and protects the environment--all really good public policy goals.

Over 129,000 jobs have been leveraged because of the brownfields program, and almost 70,000 acres have been made ready for reuse. The brownfields program has leveraged over $24 billion, a

significant return on the Federal investment in the program. I read somewhere it was a 16-to-1 rate of return based on Federal investment compared to what we get out of the program.

A 2017 study concluded that cleaning up brownfield properties led to a residential property value increase of up to 15 percent within a mile of these brownfield sites. Another study found an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional tax revenues for local governments in a single year after the cleanup, which is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million the EPA contributed to the cleanup of those brownfields. So, property values go up, local tax revenues go up, communities are improved, and we create jobs with this very important program.

In my home State of Oregon, we have had a very active and effective brownfields program, and we have seen some great success in my own district. The Old Mill District in Bend--which is pictured here; this is the site of an old lumber mill--was one of those sites. It is easy to see--as the debris was here and the mill was crumbling and we lost all of those jobs--it was transformed into this incredible place with great recreation. With the reopening of the Deschutes River, we have movie theaters and restaurants and offices and residential housing all in this complex now, and it is a showplace. It is a gem of Deschutes County.

Bend isn't alone. In The Dalles, where I was born, Google broke ground on an expansion to their data center there on 26 acres of former mill land that was cleaned up under this program. That expansion of the Google data center is a $600 million investment, expected to create 50 new jobs.

Also, in my hometown of Hood River, the Port of Hood River just finished a brownfields cleanup of another former mill site. That opened up 12 acres of land for future business opportunities in the area.

And in southern Oregon, the city of Grants Pass is in the early stages of working towards a similar goal. They have successfully secured assistance through the brownfields program to begin planning the cleanup and redevelopment of the old Spalding Mill site.

The Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously voted to move this bipartisan legislation out of the committee. We worked closely with our friends and colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to make additional improvements on the way to the House floor.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today because the authorization for the brownfields program expired in 2006. It is well past time we do our job as Congress to modernize and reauthorize successful programs like this. At the end of the day, this bipartisan legislation creates jobs, promotes infrastructure and economic development, and cleans up our communities. It is a winning scenario for everyone involved.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues who put so much time and effort into modernizing this program, and I urge them all to support H.R. 3017 as we pass it into law.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise today in strong support of H.R. 3017, the Brownfields Enhancement, Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act, and I am pleased to be a sponsor of this bipartisan effort along with my colleagues, Chairman Walden, especially Chairman Shimkus, and Ranking Members Pallone and Tonko for their work. I also want to thank the work of my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee who also were cosponsors of this legislation, Mr. Katko and Ms. Esty.

The bill represents a broad, bipartisan compromise that will reauthorize the brownfields program for the first time since 2006. In addition to the reauthorization, the bill makes several key improvements that you have heard about here today that will result in more brownfield sites being cleaned up and returned to productive use.

A little history can explain why this bill was so important to pass.

When America's industrial manufacturing facilities and factories were being constructed, they typically were located on prime property along rivers, railroads, and roads. But, over the years, technologically there were

changes that took place that transformed how our economy operates. It also had to deal with unfair imports coming into America. As a result, many companies failed and the sites became abandoned.

Rusting hulks of former factories and weed-infested sites have become an eyesore and deter investment in downtown and urban areas. Today, these locations could still prove to be valuable in creating jobs, and that is what our prime responsibility is here. We need to improve this negative stigma that these sites pose to communities and restore these brownfields into productive resources.

America has, indeed, been identified as having 450,000 brownfield sites across the country, but only 27,000 have been cleaned up. This reauthorization is long overdue.

One great success story is Pietro Fiorentini, a supplier to the natural gas industry who recently broke ground at a new manufacturing facility in Weirton, West Virginia, that was cleaned up through the brownfields program. Pietro Fiorentini spent 5 years preparing this site because of the level of contamination.

I especially want to give a shout-out to Pat Ford, the executive director of the Business Development Corporation in the northern panhandle. His efforts have been tireless, working to do great things like creating jobs in the First District of West Virginia.

His corporation, the Business Development Corporation, has already received $2.5 million over the years in brownfields grants and has leveraged those projects into $75 million in private sector money. It has resulted in over 1,250 new jobs, and another 128 have been preserved.

You heard earlier from Chairman Shimkus, talking about the 16-to-1 ratio. Pat Ford's group has a 35-to-1 ratio. For every dollar that we put in for the Federal Government, Pat Ford's group has created $35 of investment.

In the future, as businesses develop the Appalachian ethane storage hub that is under way now in the Appalachian area, these newly reclaimed properties will allow for even more industries and create more jobs throughout this area.

This bipartisan bill makes very important classifications to CERCLA liability and petroleum sites. It expands eligibility for nonprofit organizations. It, indeed, increases the limit for remediation grants from $200,000 to $500,000. It creates the multipurpose grants. But, more importantly, it makes it easier for small, rural, or disadvantaged communities to participate in this program.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, however, to fully fund this vitally important brownfields program. Although $250 million is authorized, the appropriators have only allocated $153 million to this program. Consequently, revitalization of these former abandoned sites is delayed, and they remain a stigma, deterring development in our downtown communities.

Overall, this bipartisan bill--and I thank my friends on the other side of the aisle for how we are all working together on this--will make great strides toward achieving the goals of getting more contaminated sites cleaned up, promoting infrastructure, and, importantly, creating jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, our ranker, who has done great work on this bill, for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today represents what we can accomplish when we work together for the good of our local communities.

My district includes the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. These rivers were at the heart of our Nation's early industrialization. Along the river banks, factories manufactured carpets, collars, leather goods, and many other products.

Many of those manufacturers have since left these mill towns, but the legacy of contaminated land continues, and many of those sites remain vacant. The contamination, or the perception of contamination, makes developers avoid investing in these very important parcels and properties. Assessing and remediating these sites is critical for environmental revitalization and economic redevelopment.

The Brownfields Enhancement, Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act would improve an already successful EPA program. This legislation would reauthorize EPA's brownfields program, which expired in 2006. This would extend the program through 2022.

Since 2002, with EPA's support, tens of thousands of acres of idle land have been made ready for productive use, increasing nearby property values and helping to preserve greenfields. These properties have been brought back onto local tax rolls, helping to support local economic development. In the process, more than 130,000 jobs have been created and some $24 billion has been leveraged from this Federal investment.

Local governments are realizing that, through this program, we can turn a liability into a golden opportunity; but, unfortunately, there are many more sites yet to be assessed or remediated.

More than 450,000 brownfields exist across our great country. Many of the easiest, low-hanging fruit sites have already been cleaned up. The more difficult ones will require more funding. In recognition of this, the bill increases the maximum individual grant from $200,000 to $500,000, which will enable more complex sites to be remediated.

The bill creates multipurpose grants, enables nonprofits to receive grants, allows a small portion of grants to be used to cover administrative costs, and makes certain publically owned sites eligible for funding. These are important improvements to the program, supported by a wide array of stakeholders.

Strengthening EPA's brownfields program will continue to create jobs, remediate contaminated land, and promote sustainable economic development. It is also a key factor in creating aesthetics for neighboring parcels, thereby enhancing the entire regional aspect of certain given regions across our communities. This reauthorization will give communities the resources, the capacity, and, indeed, the flexibility to turn more liabilities into opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the members of the majority, including Mr. McKinley; Chairman Shimkus, who is the Environment Subcommittee chair; and Chairman Walden, who is the Energy and Commerce chair; as well as our colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for working with us to produce this bipartisan bill, a golden opportunity for us to come together, work together, and accomplish.

Finally, I want to thank the efforts of our Energy and Commerce ranker, Representative Frank Pallone. It was his great work that helped us get here also.

I want to also acknowledge the tremendous work done by staff on both sides of the aisle. In particular, let me please recognize the efforts of Jackie Cohen, Rick Kessler, and Jeff Carroll, along with other members of the Energy and Commerce minority staff who worked so diligently on behalf of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.