EPA awards brownfield grants but state needs to act

(May 18, 2007) This week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the awarding of brownfields grants totaling $70.7 million nationwide.  
Connecticut’s share of this year’s $18 million in grants to New England is close to $4 million and will be used to fund about a dozen projects. 

The EPA estimates there are 450,000 potential brownfield sites in the United States, of which Connecticut may have several thousand. Clearly, Connecticut cannot rely only on federal and priate-sector dollars to make significant strides in getting its brownfields cleaned up and revitalized.

What’s more, there are many bureaucratic changes Connecticut needs to make in order to streamline the brownfield redevelopment process and make investment in such Connecticut properties more attractive.

In February, the state’s Brownfield Task Force submitted a report to the legislature with a variety of important recommendations that would help facilitate more brownfield redevelopment in our state. 

Some of these recommendations involved funding but others begin to address key bureaucratic barriers that are keeping the pace of brownfield redevelopment in Connecticut unacceptably low. 

The legislature, state agencies and the Brownfields Task Force are currently working on a bill that would provide greater funding for brownfield redevelopment and implement some of the streamlining measures recommended by the task force. 

Their effort will need to be bold on both fronts if Connecticut is to meaningfully move forward and take advantage of the enormous opportunities brownfield redevelopment provides for economic and environmental progress.

More information about brownfields or this year’s EPA grant winners, contact Eric Brown at 860-244-1926 or click here.

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