Following Proposed Cuts, King Pushes for Full Funding of EPA Brownfields Program to Support Rural Maine Economic Development Initiatives

Press Release

In the wake of the Trump Administration's proposal to slash funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) this week signed a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee urging them to fully fund the EPA's Brownfields Program in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget. The EPA's Brownfields Program assists states and local communities as they assess, safely clean up, and reuse Brownfield sites -- properties that contain a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant, which hinders the potential to reuse or redevelop the site -- for economic development projects.

"This important program drives economic growth by providing funds and technical assistance to assess and clean-up contaminated property sites for redevelopment, and helps promote successful local economic development in communities across the United States," Senator King and his colleagues wrote. "Using funds from the Brownfields program, communities are able to convert liabilities into productive local assets. In the past, Brownfield funds have successfully laid the groundwork for manufacturing plants, commercial spaces, housing, community recreation facilities, and parks. Redeveloping contaminated properties creates jobs, improves environmental quality, and boosts local and state tax revenues."

Brownfields are properties where moderate contamination threatens environmental quality and public health and can interfere with productive reuse of the sites. As of January 1, 2017, the EPA's Brownfields program has assessed 25,296 properties, made 63,900 acres ready for reuse, supported the creation of 117,525 jobs, and led to $22.612 billion in funding for revitalization projects since the program's inception in 1995. A 2017 study published in the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists found that residential properties values increased up to 15.2 percent once surrounding brownfields were assessed or cleaned up.

Since 1994, Maine has received more than $72 million through the Brownfields Program. The January assessment from the Economic Development Assessment Team (EDAT) -- originally requested in March 2016 by Senators Collins and King -- highlighted the importance of the Brownfields Program and its potential to leverage federal resources to redevelop former industrial sites, support the viability of impacted mill communities and help to grow Maine's rural economy. That same month, Eastern Maine Development Corporation was awarded $200,000 through the program to support a development and implementation strategy in Bucksport for the former Verso Paper Mill project area.

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