27/09/2023 at 10:00AM
The Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials will hold a hearing on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled “Revitalizing American Communities: Ensuring the Reauthorization of EPA’s Brownfields Program.”
Witnesses
Panel I:
- Barry Breen, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Land and Emergency Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Panel II:
- Christian Bollwage, Mayor, Elizabeth, NJ, on behalf of the Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities
- Tammy Shifflett Tincher, Greenbrier County Commission, on behalf of National Association of Counties
- Lesly Melendez, Executive Director, Groundwork Lawrence, on behalf of the National Brownfields Coalition
- Pat Ford, Director of External Affairs & Business Development, Frontier Group of Companies, Buffalo, NY
The Committee has been working to develop legislation to reauthorize the EPA Brownfields Program and to make statutory improvements to the brownfields law in CERCLA. While the IIJA provided advanced funding for EPA’s Brownfields Program, the formal authorization of the program in CERCLA is set to expire in 2023. The Discussion Draft is a work in progress and the objective of this hearing is to analyze the provisions in the Discussion Draft and to explore whether additional revisions to the law are necessary. Currently the Discussion Draft includes the following provisions:
RURAL BROWNFIELDS SHOWCASE: Amends CERCLA section 104(k)(7) to provide grants in each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026 to five communities – three representing a non-suburban population of 50,000 or less and two representing a non-suburban population of 50,001 to 100,000 persons. It would also provide technical assistance to help those communities secure a CERCLA section 104(k) grant or loan that will promote environmental protection and restoration, economic development, job creation, community revitalization, and public health protection through the assessment, cleanup, or sustainable reuse of brownfields in the community. The program would sunset after a status report in Fiscal Year 2029.
BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM OVERSIGHT: Creates a new requirement for the EPA to conduct an annual internal audit of its Brownfields program and its awards. It would direct EPA to report to Congress on the findings, as well as would require the Office of Inspector General to investigate biennially the EPA brownfields program, to evaluate the operation of the program and the use of Federal funds by it, and report to Congress. One half of one percent of all funding authorized for CERCLA section 104(k) would be allocated to the OIG for oversight activities.
LOCAL CONCURRENCE: Amends CECRLA section 104(k)(5) to make the concurrence of local governing officials in an application a condition of EPA awarding a brownfields site characterization and assessment, cleanup, or multipurpose grant or loan.
PRIVATE PARTIES: Adds a private, for-profit organization that otherwise meets the same qualifications as an eligible entity as an eligible entity under the Brownfields program.
FUNDING AUTHORIZATIONS: Authorizes appropriations for five years, from fiscal year 2024 through fiscal year 2028, for CERCLA sections 104(k) and 128. The Discussion Draft intentionally does not identify a funding amount for either CERCLA sections 104(k) or 128 to permit discussion about what would constitute their appropriate funding levels.