WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee unanimously passed the Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2023, legislation authored by U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the EPW Committee, and Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the EPW Committee, to reauthorize the Brownfields program, which supports redevelopment efforts at legacy industrial sites in local communities.

“The Brownfields program has created success story after success story in communities across the United States, including West Virginia. The Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2023 would further support these public-private partnerships that are critical for the economic redevelopment of legacy industrial sites. From an environmental and economic standpoint, Brownfield grants have benefitted both urban and rural areas, and I’m thrilled the EPW Committee continued our track record of bipartisan solutions by advancing this important legislation today,” Ranking Member Capito said.

“For years, EPA’s Brownfields program has turned the adversity of industrial contamination into economic opportunity for communities across our nation, including in Delaware,” Chairman Carper said. “The Brownfields Reauthorization Act would help more communities benefit from this successful program, and I thank Senator Capito, as well as our EPW Committee colleagues, for their work to advance this bipartisan legislation.”

BACKGROUND:

A brownfield is a property for which the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Brownfields decrease property values, depress economic activity, foster increased crime, and present ongoing environmental and public health risks to nearby communities.

Since first being authorized in 2002, the Brownfields program has become a resounding success story for both the economy and the environment. The program has benefitted West Virginia with more than $41 million in Brownfield grants being awarded to the state since 2005. Those grants were leveraged into an additional $1.6 billion in public and private investment while also creating more than 5,400 new jobs.

Full text of the Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2023 can be foundhere.

A section by section summary of the Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2023 can be found here.

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