II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1479 

To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 

Liability Act of 1980 to modify provisions relating to grants, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 2, 2015 

Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. ROUNDS, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. 

CRAPO, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to modify provisions 

relating to grants, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Brownfields Utiliza5 tion, Investment, and Local Development Act of 2015’’ or 

6 the ‘‘BUILD Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY FOR NONPROFIT ORGANI2 ZATIONS. 

3 Section 104(k)(1) of the Comprehensive Environ4 mental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 

5 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(1)) is amended— 

6 (1) in subparagraph (G), by striking ‘‘or’’ after 

7 the semicolon; 

8 (2) in subparagraph (H), by striking the period 

9 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(I) an organization described in section 

12 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

13 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) 

14 of that Code; 

15 ‘‘(J) a limited liability corporation in which 

16 all managing members are organizations de17 scribed in subparagraph (I) or limited liability 

18 corporations whose sole members are organiza19 tions described in subparagraph (I); 

20 ‘‘(K) a limited partnership in which all 

21 general partners are organizations described in 

22 subparagraph (I) or limited liability corpora23 tions whose sole members are organizations de24 scribed in subparagraph (I); or 


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1 ‘‘(L) a qualified community development 

2 entity (as defined in section 45D(c)(1) of the 

3 Internal Revenue Code of 1986).’’. 

4 SEC. 3. MULTIPURPOSE BROWNFIELDS GRANTS. 

5 Section 104(k) of the Comprehensive Environmental 

6 Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 

7 U.S.C. 9604(k)) is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through 

9 (9) and (10) through (12) as paragraphs (5) 

10 through (10) and (13) through (15), respectively; 

11 (2) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking ‘‘subject to 

12 paragraphs (4) and (5)’’ and inserting ‘‘subject to 

13 paragraphs (5) and (6)’’; and 

14 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(4) MULTIPURPOSE BROWNFIELDS GRANTS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara18 graph (D) and paragraphs (5) and (6), the Ad19 ministrator shall establish a program to provide 

20 multipurpose grants to an eligible entity based 

21 on the considerations under paragraph (3)(C), 

22 to carry out inventory, characterization, assess23 ment, planning, or remediation activities at 1 or 

24 more brownfield sites in a proposed area. 

25 ‘‘(B) GRANT AMOUNTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) INDIVIDUAL GRANT AMOUNTS.— 

2 Each grant awarded under this paragraph 

3 shall not exceed $950,000. 

4 ‘‘(ii) CUMULATIVE GRANT

5 AMOUNTS.—The total amount of grants 

6 awarded for each fiscal year under this 

7 paragraph shall not exceed 15 percent of 

8 the funds made available for the fiscal year 

9 to carry out this subsection. 

10 ‘‘(C) CRITERIA.—In awarding a grant 

11 under this paragraph, the Administrator shall 

12 consider the extent to which an eligible entity is 

13 able— 

14 ‘‘(i) to provide an overall plan for re15 vitalization of the 1 or more brownfield 

16 sites in the proposed area in which the 

17 multipurpose grant will be used; 

18 ‘‘(ii) to demonstrate a capacity to con19 duct the range of eligible activities that 

20 will be funded by the multipurpose grant; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(iii) to demonstrate that a multipur23 pose grant will meet the needs of the 1 or 

24 more brownfield sites in the proposed area. 


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1 ‘‘(D) CONDITION.—As a condition of re2 ceiving a grant under this paragraph, each eli3 gible entity shall expend the full amount of the 

4 grant not later than the date that is 3 years 

5 after the date on which the grant is awarded to 

6 the eligible entity unless the Administrator, in 

7 the discretion of the Administrator, provides an 

8 extension.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PUBLICLY OWNED 

10 BROWNFIELD SITES. 

11 Section 104(k)(2) of the Comprehensive Environ12 mental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 

13 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(2)) is amended by adding at the 

14 end the following: 

15 ‘‘(C) EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN PUBLICLY

16 OWNED BROWNFIELD SITES.—Notwithstanding 

17 any other provision of law, an eligible entity 

18 that is a governmental entity may receive a 

19 grant under this paragraph for property ac20 quired by that governmental entity prior to 

21 January 11, 2002, even if the governmental en22 tity does not qualify as a bona fide prospective 

23 purchaser (as that term is defined in section 

24 101(40)), so long as the eligible entity has not 

25 caused or contributed to a release or threatened 


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1 release of a hazardous substance at the prop2 erty.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. INCREASED FUNDING FOR REMEDIATION GRANTS. 

4 Section 104(k)(3)(A)(ii) of the Comprehensive Envi5 ronmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 

6 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)(3)(A)(ii)) is amended by strik7 ing ‘‘$200,000 for each site to be remediated’’ and insert8 ing ‘‘$500,000 for each site to be remediated, which limit 

9 may be waived by the Administrator, but not to exceed 

10 a total of $650,000 for each site, based on the anticipated 

11 level of contamination, size, or ownership status of the 

12 site’’. 

13 SEC. 6. ALLOWING ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS FOR GRANT 

14 RECIPIENTS. 

15 Paragraph (5) of section 104(k) of the Comprehen16 sive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabil17 ity Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)) (as redesignated by 

18 section 3(1)) is amended— 

19 (1) in subparagraph (B)— 

20 (A) in clause (i)— 

21 (i) by striking subclause (III); and 

22 (ii) by redesignating subclauses (IV) 

23 and (V) as subclauses (III) and (IV), re24 spectively; 

25 (B) by striking clause (ii); 


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1 (C) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause 

2 (ii); and 

3 (D) in clause (ii) (as redesignated by sub4 paragraph (C)), by striking ‘‘Notwithstanding 

5 clause (i)(IV)’’ and inserting ‘‘Notwithstanding 

6 clause (i)(III)’’; and 

7 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(E) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity 

10 may use up to 8 percent of the amounts 

11 made available under a grant or loan 

12 under this subsection for administrative 

13 costs. 

14 ‘‘(ii) RESTRICTION.—For purposes of 

15 clause (i), the term ‘administrative costs’ 

16 does not include— 

17 ‘‘(I) investigation and identifica18 tion of the extent of contamination; 

19 ‘‘(II) design and performance of 

20 a response action; or 

21 ‘‘(III) monitoring of a natural re22 source.’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. SMALL COMMUNITY TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 

2 GRANTS. 

3 Paragraph (7)(A) of section 104(k) of the Com4 prehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 

5 Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)) (as redesig6 nated by section 3(1)) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘The Administrator may pro8 vide,’’ and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this subpara10 graph: 

11 ‘‘(I) DISADVANTAGED AREA.— 

12 The term ‘disadvantaged area’ means 

13 an area with an annual median house14 hold income that is less than 80 per15 cent of the State-wide annual median 

16 household income, as determined by 

17 the latest available decennial census. 

18 ‘‘(II) SMALL COMMUNITY.—The 

19 term ‘small community’ means a com20 munity with a population of not more 

21 than 15,000 individuals, as deter22 mined by the latest available decennial 

23 census. 

24 ‘‘(ii) ESTABLISHMENT OF PRO25 GRAM.—The Administrator shall establish 


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1 a program to provide grants that pro2 vide,’’; and 

3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(iii) SMALL OR DISADVANTAGED

5 COMMUNITY RECIPIENTS.— 

6 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Subject to 

7 subclause (II), in carrying out the 

8 program under clause (ii), the Admin9 istrator shall use not more than 

10 $600,000 of the amounts made avail11 able to carry out this paragraph to 

12 provide grants to States that receive 

13 amounts under section 128(a) to as14 sist small communities, Indian tribes, 

15 rural areas, or disadvantaged areas in 

16 achieving the purposes described in 

17 clause (ii). 

18 ‘‘(II) LIMITATION.—Each grant 

19 awarded under subclause (I) shall be 

20 not more than $7,500.’’. 

21 SEC. 8. WATERFRONT BROWNFIELDS GRANTS. 

22 Section 104(k) of the Comprehensive Environmental 

23 Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 

24 U.S.C. 9604(k)) is amended by inserting after paragraph 

25 (10) (as redesignated by section 3(1)) the following: 


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1 ‘‘(11) WATERFRONT BROWNFIELD SITES.— 

2 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF WATERFRONT

3 BROWNFIELD SITE.—In this paragraph, the 

4 term ‘waterfront brownfield site’ means a 

5 brownfield site that is adjacent to a body of 

6 water or a federally designated floodplain. 

7 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In providing 

8 grants under this subsection, the Administrator 

9 shall— 

10 ‘‘(i) take into consideration whether 

11 the brownfield site to be served by the 

12 grant is a waterfront brownfield site; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) give consideration to waterfront 

14 brownfield sites.’’. 

15 SEC. 9. CLEAN ENERGY BROWNFIELDS GRANTS. 

16 Section 104(k) of the Comprehensive Environmental 

17 Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 

18 U.S.C. 9604(k)) (as amended by section 8) is amended 

19 by inserting after paragraph (11) the following: 

20 ‘‘(12) CLEAN ENERGY PROJECTS AT

21 BROWNFIELD SITES.— 

22 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF CLEAN ENERGY

23 PROJECT.—In this paragraph, the term ‘clean 

24 energy project’ means— 


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1 ‘‘(i) a facility that generates renew2 able electricity from wind, solar, or geo3 thermal energy; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) any energy efficiency improve5 ment project at a facility, including com6 bined heat and power and district energy. 

7 ‘‘(B) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Adminis8 trator shall establish a program to provide 

9 grants— 

10 ‘‘(i) to eligible entities to carry out in11 ventory, characterization, assessment, 

12 planning, feasibility analysis, design, or re13 mediation activities to locate a clean en14 ergy project at 1 or more brownfield sites; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(ii) to capitalize a revolving loan 

17 fund for the purposes described in clause 

18 (i). 

19 ‘‘(C) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—A grant under 

20 this paragraph shall not exceed $500,000.’’. 

21 SEC. 10. TARGETED FUNDING FOR STATES. 

22 Paragraph (15) of section 104(k) of the Comprehen23 sive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabil24 ity Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)) (as redesignated by 


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1 section 3(1)) is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(C) TARGETED FUNDING.—Of the 

4 amounts made available under subparagraph 

5 (A) for a fiscal year, the Administrator may use 

6 not more than $2,000,000 to provide grants to 

7 States for purposes authorized under section 

8 128(a), subject to the condition that each State 

9 that receives a grant under this subparagraph 

10 shall have used at least 50 percent of the 

11 amounts made available to that State in the 

12 previous fiscal year to carry out assessment and 

13 remediation activities under section 128(a).’’. 

14 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 (a) BROWNFIELDS REVITALIZATION FUNDING.— 

16 Paragraph (15)(A) of section 104(k) of the Comprehen17 sive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabil18 ity Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(k)) (as redesignated by 

19 section 3(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘2006’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘2018’’. 

21 (b) STATE RESPONSE PROGRAMS.—Section 

22 128(a)(3) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 

23 Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 


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1 9628(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘2006’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘2018’’. 

Æ 


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