Environment DEC
From the July 2007 issue
Brownfields Bill Key to Increasing Economic Revitalization
This baseball stadium occupies a former brownfield site
Governor Eliot Spitzer proposed legislation that would restructure and improve the state's brownfields program. If adopted, it would redirect state tax dollars, providing a real incentive to clean up brownfields throughout New York for development. Until they are remediated, brownfield sites cannot be developed because of toxic contamination. Typically, the contamination is not severe enough to warrant a more robust cleanup under the Superfund law, but it does pose health and environmental risks.
Proposed Changes
The Governor's brownfields proposal would:
- Change the existing brownfields tax credit structure to cover the full cost of remediation while providing additional incentives to encourage development of newly remediated sites. Current law provides tax credits for the construction of buildings on cleaned-up sites and other costs unrelated to clean up.
- Revise tax credits to encourage parties to undertake more rigorous clean-up efforts that adhere to higher standards.
- Require that participating parties responsible for contributing to pollution at a site pay a greater percentage of clean-up costs.
- Expand reporting requirements by recipients of tax credits to provide the state with more accurate data on a more frequent basis.
Pete Grannis, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), said, "This bill offers a powerful solution to the obstacles in the way of brownfields redevelopment. By offering dollar-for-dollar credits for 100 percent of the cleanup costs, this legislation would spur significant redevelopment of contaminated sites and protect the environment and public health. Combined with its important fiscal caps to protect against financial windfalls and enhanced tax credits for more aggressive cleanups, this balanced legislation is a blueprint for cleaning up brownfields."
Current Law
In 2003, a new brownfields law was adopted by the state legislature. An analysis of the first 25 projects certified and approved under the program indicates that only a small fraction of the tax credits granted were related to remediation costs. Current law provides that a percentage of the total costs beyond remediation be paid to parties for development of brownfields sites. Thus, the cost of the program has significantly exceeded original projections. The existing tax credit structure will govern remediation plans that have been approved by DEC and already begun.
