Ehrlich on Washington column, April 26, 1999

MEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 Lutherville, Maryland 21093 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of April 26, 1 999 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT - STIMULATING ECONOMIC GROWTH (Part 1 in a 3-part series on the Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative) What is a Brownfield site? As I travel through the Second Congressional District and the state of Maryland, one of the most frustrating and disappointing sights to me is an abandoned industrial site. These properties - whether a deserted gas station, small industrial building, or an empty factory - present real challenges to neighbors and governments. For some, they represent economic failure, environmental hazards, and community degradation. For me, I see the untapped potential of these locations and real opportunities to rehabilitate these sites and to reinvest in our older (and often poorer) communities. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial sites with limited contamination as "Brownfields." Brownfield sites pose a unique problem. On one hand, they are ineligible for funding under the federal government’s Superfund program (which provides funding for the cleanup of the nation’s worst environmental sites listed on the National Priorities List). On the other, they present a low-level environmental or health risk that deters redevelopment during a time when planners are casting an eye to such sites as an alternative to suburban sprawl.