Date: 2005-06-29
Speaker: GARY G. MILLER (republican)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I rise today to offer a modest amendment to ensure that HUD can continue to work to redevelop brownfields sites in our local communities. As a member of the Committee on Financial Services and Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I would like to commend the subcommittee chairman. the gentleman from Michigan . for his hard work to adequately fund our Nations housing and transportation needs through this difficult budget year. What we are trying to do here today is. there has been a program zeroed out for brownfields. As we all know. on the BEDI grants on brownfields through HUD. HUD looks at a brownfield in a different way than EPA does. HUD looks at a brownfield in a fashion where they look and say. what benefit is it to the local communities. and how can we revitalize communities and create economic development? They do it in that fashion. They are very discriminatory in how they issue the grants. too. On the other hand. the EPA looks at one issue.. cleaning up polluted areas. That is all they look at. Experts estimate in the United States that more than 450.000 vacant. unused industrial areas sit fallow today because we really have not taken and spent the time necessary to clean them up. If you look throughout our communities. there are many sites that you see that are fenced in. old plants. old industrial areas. that are sitting vacant that could be utilized today for housing and for many other areas. And they are just basically blighted sites throughout individual communities. They threaten our groundwater supply. They cost our communities jobs and revenues. and they contribute to urban sprawl. It is estimated that if. we clean these sites up the way we want to. 550.000 additional jobs will be provided through this country and $2.4 billion in new tax revenues to cities and towns. To build the economies and attract employers. an increasing number of States and local governments are working to plan. clean up and redevelop brownfield sites. There is a clear and critical role for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to get involved and play a role in this effort. The largest obstacle cities face in redevelopment of brownfield sites is a lack of capital needed for the initial work. the planning. the early stages. the assessment. remediation planning and basically actual cleanup. Brownfields can be developed through HUD and developed in a positive fashion. but we do not do that today. BEDI grants are available. We have passed legislation now out of- the authorizing committee. in fact. the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman OXLEY) was going to be here to speak in favor of this amendment today. to basically revitalize the BEDI process. to make it more simplistic. to make it easier for communities to . be able to access. the funds without pledging CDBG fund as they have had to in the past. We need to return these contaminated sites to productive uses throughout our communities. BEDI programs give local communities valuable tools to address blight. create new jobs and expand their tax base. It is completely different in every State today than EPA. EPA has a single goal. and that is just basically to clean up environmentally polluted sites. On the other hand. HUD looks at it in a different fashion. HUD looks at the BEDI process as a way to revitalize sites. to take an actual environmental condition that is perceived or real and basically develop it! into a plan that currently exists. They target for uses not just basically on one issue. but they target brownfields for use for economic devel-. opment. to increase economic opportunities for lowand moderateincome persons. to stimulate and retain businesses or jobs. that would otherwise be left fallow and not lead to economic revitalization. BEDI financed activities will provide nearterm results and demonstrable economic benefits. such as job creation and increases in the local tax base. HUD does not encourage applicants who want to land bank. who want to go and acquire a site. remediate it. and then just let it sit there and allow it to remain fallow.