Untitled Document

This Just In from Capitol Hill
By Charlie Batsch

As the 108th Congress moved toward its October 8 adjournment for the November elections, it continued to act on matters of importance to the brownfield community. At the end of the session:

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $165 million for EPA’s brownfield program, slightly lower than the amount already approved by the House. The committee also included language permitting recipients to claim “reasonable” administrative costs and allowed applicants to seek funding for sites that they owned prior to the date the brownfield program took effect — January 11, 2002. The House is opposed to these provisions, and an agreement still needs to be worked out.
The Senate Appropriations Committee also approved $25 million for HUD’s Brownfield Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) program. The House has already included $24 million for this program, virtually assuring its continuation. The Bush Administration opposes funding for this program.
Congress included an as-is extension of the Section 198 brownfield tax-expensing incentive (which had expired) to December 31, 2005. It applies to cleanup costs (including site assessment, remediation, operations and monitoring, and state response program fees) incurred since January 1, 2004.
Congress has passed, and the President has signed, the corporate tax relief bill including provisions of S 1936, which clarifies that investment entities are not subject to unrelated business income tax (UBIT) from sale, exchange or other disposition of brownfield sites, as long as they spend at least $550,000 to clean them up. It is intended to create additional tax incentives to encourage large institutional investors to consider brownfield projects/funds when placing their capital.
Congress reauthorized the Economic Development Administration (EDA) with language declaring that EDA should promote the productive reuse of brownfields. The law also directs the General Accountability Office to conduct a study on EDA’s brownfield redevelopment work. The bill complements the EPA’s work on cleanup of these sites by encouraging EDA to conduct redevelopment projects on brownfields.

Back