II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3549 

To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 

Liability Act of 1980 to provide grants for the revitalization of waterfront 

brownfields, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND 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 provide grants 

for the revitalization of waterfront brownfields, 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 ‘‘Waterfront 

5 Brownfields Revitalization Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WATERFRONT BROWNFIELDS GRANT. 

2 Section 104(k) of the Comprehensive Environmental 

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

4 U.S.C. 9604(k)) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through 

6 (11) and (12) as paragraphs (5) through (12) and 

7 (14), respectively; 

8 (2) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking ‘‘para9 graphs (4) and (5)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (5) 

10 and (6)’’; 

11 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(4) GRANTS FOR WATERFRONT BROWNFIELDS

14 REVITALIZATION.— 

15 ‘‘(A) DEFINITION OF WATERFRONT

16 BROWNFIELDS SITE.—In this paragraph, the 

17 term ‘waterfront brownfields site’ means a 

18 brownfields site that is adjacent to a body of 

19 water. 

20 ‘‘(B) PROGRAM.—Subject to paragraphs 

21 (5) and (6), the Administrator shall establish a 

22 program to provide grants to eligible entities or 

23 nonprofit organizations to be used in accord24 ance with subparagraph (C) for 1 or more wa25 terfront brownfields sites. 


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1 ‘‘(C) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant under this 

2 paragraph may be used for reuse planning, site 

3 characterization and assessment, or remediation 

4 at waterfront brownfields sites, including the in5 tegration of activities related to the design and 

6 implementation of water quality improvements, 

7 low impact development approaches, green in8 frastructure, remediation and management of 

9 sediments, or flood damage prevention associ10 ated with brownfields remediation and reuse.’’; 

11 (4) in paragraph (5)(A) (as redesignated by 

12 paragraph (1)), by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(iii) WATERFRONT BROWNFIELDS

14 REVITALIZATION.—A grant made to an eli15 gible entity or nonprofit organization 

16 under paragraph (4) may not exceed 

17 $500,000.’’; 

18 (5) in paragraph (7)(A) (as redesignated by 

19 paragraph (1)) by inserting ‘‘waterfront brownfields 

20 revitalization,’’ after ‘‘community involvement,’’; and 

21 (6) by striking paragraph (14) (as redesignated 

22 by paragraph (1)) and inserting the following: 

23 ‘‘(13) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Administrator 

24 shall submit to the Committee on Environment and 

25 Public Works of the Senate and the Committee on 


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1 Energy and Commerce and the Committee on 

2 Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 

3 Representatives an annual report on the implemen4 tation of the brownfield site characterization and as5 sessment grant program under this subsection. 

6 ‘‘(14) FUNDING.— 

7 ‘‘(A) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA8 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

9 to carry out this subsection $220,000,000 for 

10 each of fiscal years 2013 through 2017. 

11 ‘‘(B) USE OF CERTAIN FUNDS.—Of the 

12 amount made available under subparagraph (A) 

13 for a fiscal year, $55,000,000, or, if the amount 

14 made available is less than $220,000,000, 25 

15 percent of the amount made available, shall be 

16 used for site characterization, assessment, and 

17 remediation of facilities described in section 

18 101(39)(D)(ii)(II). 

19 ‘‘(C) WATERFRONT BROWNFIELDS REVI20 TALIZATION.—There are authorized to be ap21 propriated to carry out paragraph (4) such 

22 sums as are necessary.’’. 

23 SEC. 3. TASK FORCE. 

24 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the En25 vironmental Protection Agency shall establish and serve 


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1 as chairperson of a task force on the revitalization of wa2 terfront brownfields (as defined in section 104(k)(4) of the 

3 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, 

4 and Liability Act of 1980) (as added by section 2(3)). 

5 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—Members of the task force shall 

6 include representatives who have expertise in waterfronts 

7 or brownfields revitalization, including representatives 

8 from— 

9 (1) the Environmental Protection Agency; 

10 (2) the National Oceanographic and Atmos11 pheric Administration; 

12 (3) the Corps of Engineers; 

13 (4) the Department of Transportation; 

14 (5) the Department of Housing and Urban De15 velopment; 

16 (6) the Economic Development Administration; 

17 (7) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; 

18 (8) State and local governments; 

19 (9) community-based organizations and other 

20 interested parties; and 

21 (10) any other agency or entity the Adminis22 trator determines to be appropriate. 

23 (c) DUTIES.—The task force shall identify— 


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1 (1) existing and potential funding and technical 

2 assistance resources for waterfront brownfields revi3 talization; 

4 (2) barriers to and solutions for waterfront 

5 brownfields revitalization; and 

6 (3) methods to coordinate interagency efforts 

7 for waterfront brownfields revitalization. 

8 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Envi10 ronmental Protection Agency shall submit to the appro11 priate committees of Congress a report describing the 

12 findings of the task force on improving waterfront 

13 brownfields revitalization. 

Æ 


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