Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are introducing bills to help alleviate the brownfields problem by allowing the expensing of brownfields remediation efforts nationwide. The House bill, HR4003, introduced by Representative Weller (R-IL) and Representative Johnson (R-CT), has amassed 21-bi-partisan cosponsors from the Ways and Means Committee. Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) has volunteered to introduce a Senate companion bill called the Brownfields Cleanup Cost Recovery Act (S.2436). The current law, which must be approved annually, limits benefits only to impoverished communities. According to BOMA International, the federal government’s attempts at addressing brownfields sites to date have been limited, with successes numbering in the mere hundreds compared to 450,000 sites nationwide. By creating brownfields tax incentives, BOMA states, Congress would provide businesses with additional resources to solve the problem and speed up decontamination efforts.
Based on a report from Potomac Currents
