Brownfield Boost Tops Environmental Bills

While there was no shortage of environmental bills introduced in the legislature in 2015, it was actually a quiet year for passage of measures with an impact on Connecticut’s business community.
CBIA was pleased to see continued progress on the issue of brownfield redevelopment.
HB 6830 increases the maximum loan amounts under the Brownfield Loan Program from $2 million per year for up to two years, to $4 million per year for an unlimited number of years. The loan program finances investigation and assessment and remediation costs.
The measure will also help developers, who are not the cause of a site’s contamination, to obtain liability protection against third-party lawsuits.
HB 6830 also:

• Exempts developers, under a narrow condition, from participating in a state voluntary cleanup or liability relief program
• Makes it easier for developers that acquire brownfields they did not contaminate to participate in a DECD program that protects them from liability to the state and third parties
• Expands the range of brownfields DECD can remediate and market beyond those properties currently owned by the state to include those the state once owned but later transferred to other parties.

Businesses will get greater flexibility in regulatory compliance through <strong>SB 1082, which allow employers to opt-out from having to file reports to the state electronically if that would create a hardship for them.
For more information, contact CBIA’s Eric Brown at 860.244.1926 | eric.brown@cbia.com | @CBIAericb