Brownfields & Brownfield Redevelopment
Contents
- Introduction
- Brownfields Related Laws & Rules
- Brownfields Information
- Related MRSC Webpages
- External Links to Brownfields Webpages
Introduction
A brownfield is an abandoned, idled, or underused property where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by the presence or potential presence of contamination. They are difficult to redevelop because of the need for environmental assessment and the potential liability issues involved. A property owner may find it more advantageous to leave the property abandoned because development or sale may require a costly clean-up or spur a lawsuit.
But this is changing. State and federal environmental laws and policies over the past few years have been focusing on how to turn brownfields into opportunities for investment. Redeveloped brownfield sites attract new business, create jobs, improve the neighborhood, and increase the local tax base. The regulatory changes include defining legal liabilities (eliminating some potential lawsuits), extending financial protections to lenders involved with brownfield redevelopment, and offering grants, low interest loans and tax incentives for clean-up of contaminated sites.
Local governments can take a pro-active role in redeveloping brownfield properties. Local governments can coordinate funding, assume some financial responsibility for site remediation costs, offer incentives, and facilitate permit processes and communication between private developers and state/federal environmental regulatory agencies. Local government property acquisition is one of the key tools needed to facilitate brownfields redevelopment. Some local governments have acquired brownfield properties and handled the redevelopment on their own (such as Tacoma and their Thea Foss Waterway development project).
Growth management laws, risingtransportation costs, and escalating real estate prices are making close-in brownfield properties a more attractive option. And redevelopment offers improvements to communities in the form of rejuvenated neighborhoods, businesses and public ways. For more complete information on Brownfield Redevelopment we recommend a visit to the Washington State Department of Ecology Brownfield Program, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or contact the MRSC Library.
If you have information to share (such as ordinances, issue papers, policies) from your city or county on this topic, or are aware of other web sites that we should link to, please contact Sue Enger, MRSC Planning Consultant, at senger@mrsc.org , or simply press the "Comments" button to contact MRSC in general via E-mail. We also invite any suggestions you may have for improvements and additional topics.
Brownfields Related Laws & Rules
- U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Brownfields Revitalization Laws and Statues.
- Washington State Dept of Ecology (DOE) Toxics Cleanup Regulations and Related Rules.
- Model Toxics Control Act Statute and Regulation - Model Toxics Control Act - Chapter 70.105D RCW, Uniform Environmental Covenants Act - Chapter 64.70 RCW, MTCA Cleanup Regulation Chapter 173-340 WAC, Washington State Department of Ecology publication – Includes overview and the actual statutes and rules.
- Voluntary Cleanup Program Laws and Rules, Washington State Department of Ecology – webpage provides a brief overview of requirements governing the cleanup of hazardous waste sites and links to relevant statutes. It includes a brief explanation of environmental covenants and a link to the recently adopted Uniform Environmental Covenants Act (UECA) codified in Chapter 64.70, RCW (Chapter 104, Laws of 2007).
- U.S. Conference of Mayors: Brownfields Related Laws, Rules & Programs.
- Northeast Midwest Institute: Federal Brownfields Legislation and the National Brownfields Coalition – Includes EPA Brownfields Reauthorization information, acurrent legislative update, and information on legislation in other states.
- An Assessment of the Impacts of Cooper V. Aviall on Brownfields Cleanups, Northeast-Midwest Institute, Greg Lewis, Principal Researcher, Evans Paull, Editor, June, 2007 (See also postscript on Atlantic Research and Consolidated Edison cases).
- Selected MRSC Library Holdings - Brownfields and Brownfield Development [Note: Clicking on this link will take you to a list of documents available on loan through the MRSC library.]
Brownfields Information
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
- U.S Environmental Protection Agency FAQs.
- Washington State Deptartment of Commerce Brownfield Coalition FAQs.
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Brownfields FAQs.
- Glossary of Brownfields Terms – Brownfields Center at the Environmental Law Institute.
Guidebooks/Publications/Reports/Documents
- "Brownfields Resource Guide," Washington State Dept of Ecology, Revised March 2006 (Currently being updated for 2009).
- Brownfields Redevelopment: A Guidebook for Local Governments and Communities — Second Edition, 2000, International City Managers Association.
- Getting Started with Brownfields -- Key Issues and Opportunities: What Communities Need to Know, Charles Bartsch, Northeast Midwest Institute, April 2006 - Very helpful overview.
- State Brownfields and Voluntary Response Programs: An Update from the States, Publication Number: EPA-560-R-08-004, U.S Environmental Protection Agency, September 2008.
- Brownfields Resource Guide for Rural and Small Communities, National Association of Development Officials Research Foundation, 2004.
- Environmental and Economic Impacts of Brownfields Redevelopment, a working draft for distribution, Full Report, Evans Paull, Northeast Midwest Institute, July 2008.
- Unlocking Brownfields: Keys to Community Revitalization, National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals, November 2, 2004 – Study to identify key components of successful brownfield projects and programs.
- Superfund Liability: A Continuing Obstacle to Brownfields Redevelopment, National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals, 2006.
- City/County Collaborations on Brownfields, The Joint Center for Sustainable Communities and the National Association of County Organizations (NACo) - Case studies of multi-jurisdictional approaches to brownfields redevelopment.
- Road Map to Understanding Innovative Technology Options for Brownfields Investigation and Cleanup (Based on the Fourth Edition published in September 2005 (EPA-542-B-05-001)) Brownfields and Land Revitalization Technology Support Center.
- "Brownfields and Utility Sites: A Primer for Local Governments" - Download free report about redeveloping properties owned or formerly-owned by oil, gas, and electric utility companies from The International City/County Management Association (ICMA), February 2002.
- Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing America's Older Industrial Cities, Jennifer S Vey, The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, May 2007 - Offers a five-part agenda and organizing plan for restoring prosperity in older industrial cities.
- U.S. EPA Brownfields Index of Publications, and Publications by Subject.
- The Brownfields and Land Revitalization Technology Support Center Publications List.
- U.S. Conference of Mayors Brownfields Online Library.
- Cercla and Brownfields Research Center Publications, Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials.
- US EPA Cooperative Agreement from King County, WA Department of Natural Resources and Parks.
- US EPA Region 10 Grantee Toolkit - The basic administrative and reporting tools needed to complete an EPA-funded brownfields project successfully.
- Environmental Covenant between Sunny Valley Irrigation District and Washington State Department of Ecology, June 11, 2008 - Executed after adoption of the Uniform Environmental Covenants Act.
- Draft Environmental Covenant between BSB Diversified Company, Inc., and Washington State Department of Ecology - Part of draft documents available for public review April 18 - March 19, 2008. Prepared after adoption of the Uniform Environmental Covenants Act.
Funding Sources
- Guidebook of Financial Tools: Paying for Sustainable Environmental Systems, Center for Environmental Finance, U.S Environmental Protection Agency, 2008. (See Section 9 – Tools for Financing Brownfields Redevelopment.)
- Federal Funding Programs for Brownfields and Abandoned Site Redevelopment – Past, Present and Future. Produced by the National Association of Counties under Cooperative Agreement 83280601 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Brownfield Clean-up and Redevelopment, April 2008 – Includes information on president’s Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09) budget proposal for funding levels.
- The Politics of Redeveloping Brownfields and Abandoned Property, A Primer for County Officials. Produced by the National Association of Counties Research Foundation under Cooperative Agreement 83280601 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Brownfield Clean-up and Redevelopment, March, 2008.
- Financing a Brownfield Redevelopment, Georgia Quality Growth Partnership – (loads of resources and links).
- Financing Tools for Brownfields Revitalization, Charles Bartsch, ICFI International, December 2006 - From Northeast-Midwest Institute hosted webcast for the Disadvantaged Communities.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields and Land Revitalization Grants and Funding. http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/pilot.htm, and summary of 2009 program funding -
- EPA Region 10: BrownfieldsCleanup & Redevelopment-Features information about current funding opportunities, and Grants& Competitions.
- The Brownfields Loan Fund, Community Trade and Economic Development (CTED).
- Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI).
Related MRSC Webpages
- Nuisances – Hazardous Substances.
- Infill Development: Completing the Community Fabric.
- Environment & Natural Resources.
- Economic Development (Including funding sources).
External Links to Brownfields Webpages
- Washington Department of Environmental Quality (DOE) Toxics Cleanup.
- Washington Department of Environmental Quality (DOE) Brownfields Revitalization.
- Washington State Deptartment of Commerce Brownfields Coalition - Realize the Potential of Brownfields Redevelopment.
- U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Brownfields and Land Revitalization - Includes info on tools and technical information , grants and incentive programs, and many publications on topics such as insurance and risk management, “all appropriate inquiries,” health and many others.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 - Brownfields in Region10- News and information on grants, technical assistance, conferences, targeted brownfield assessments andother resources available in Region 10.
- EnviroMapper for Brownfields, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Mapping tool to locate, display and query brownfields grant types by the areas/jurisdictions of city, county, state, and tribe.
- Building on Brownfields Newsletter - Monthly e-newsletter, published by EPA Region 10, focuses brownfields redevelopment in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
- International City Managers Association (ICMA) Brownfields – Sample government documents, articles.
- U.S. Conference of Mayors Brownfields: Recycling of America’s Land – Includes links to best practices, success stories, brownfields survey and articles.
- Northeast-Midwest Institute Brownfields - An especially good collection of reports, legislative activity, lessons from the field, and contacts.
- The Brownfields Center - Carnagie-Mellon Institute/University of Pittsburgh - Collection of case studies, state-level regulations, and research papers, mainly in Pennsylvania.
- Trust for Public Lands Brownfields to Parks. Information on restoring brownfields to community parks and open space.
- National Brownfields Associations.
Related Resources
MRSC Index – Hazardous waste sites, brownfields