Reauthorizing the EPA’s Brownfields Program to Provide Grants for Cleaning Up and Redeveloping Contaminated Industrial Sites (H.R. 3017)

What is H.R. 3017?

(Updated July 30, 2021)

This bill would reauthorize the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields Program, which provides grants to clean up and redevelop contaminated industrial sites by providing $250 million annually over the 2018-2022 period. Within the program, multipurpose grants would be created to give communities flexibility when trying to clean up multiple brownfields sites, while the limit for remediation grants would rise from $200,000 and $500,000.

Eligibility for grants would be expanded to include non-profit organizations and entities that owned property before the original enactment of the brownfields law, which would make it easier for small, rural, or disadvantaged communities to participate in the program.

Argument in favor

This bipartisan bill reauthorizes an important EPA program that provides grants for cleaning up old, contaminated industrial sites known as “brownfields” and redeveloping them into an economic asset for the community.

Argument opposed

While it may be bipartisan, this bill reauthorizing the EPA’s brownfields program doesn’t provide enough funding for the program. Alternatively, brownfield sites should be left as they are and not cleaned up or redeveloped.

Impact

Entities receiving grants under the brownfields program; communities that benefit from the clean up and redevelopment of brownfields; and the EPA.

Cost of H.R. 3017

The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would cost $888 million over the 2018-2022 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) introduced this bill to reauthorize the EPA’s Brownfields Program, which provides resources for cleaning up and redeveloping contaminated industrial sites:

“Across the Northern Panhandle and the rest of West Virginia we have hundreds of former industrial sites that sit empty. Many of these sites would be attractive for redevelopment but have legacy contamination issues that must be addressed first. The Brownfields Program has been an important tool to turn abandoned eyesores into economic opportunity.”

Original cosponsor Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) added:

“The Brownfields Program benefits communities across the country. In Danville, the largest city in my district, a $400,000 Community Wide Brownfield Assessment Grant recently helped leverage $472,373 in additional funding for a dozen projects. But even with this investment, there is still much more work to be done to create jobs and revitalize local economies. I’m happy to see this bipartisan bill advance today, and I urge the Appropriations Committee to fund the program at the authorized amount.”

This legislation passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee on a voice vote and has the support of six bipartisan cosponsors in the House, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) Press Release
  
• House Energy and Commerce Committee Press Release
  
• CBO Cost Estimate