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On February 7, 2005, the New Jersey Senate Environment Committee released legislation sponsored by Assemblymen Upendra Chivukula, Joseph V. Egan and Louis M. Manzo to require state environmental regulators to identify and catalog brownfields.
The bill (A-1633) would help environmentalists, builders, urban planners, municipal officials and others track and utilize brownfield sites for new economic development purposes.
New Jersey has identified 10,000 brownfield sites in the state, the greatest
number of contaminated former industrial sites of any state.
The bill would require the DEP to prepare an inventory of all brownfield sites
in the state. It specifies that the inventory would include information on the
location and size of each site, an assessment of any contaminants known or suspected
to have been discharged at the site, and the status of any remediation performed
on the site.
“The space and convenient location of brownfield properties are becoming
increasingly popular to commercial developers,” said Egan. “The
state needs a systematic and thorough approach to recording and following redevelopment
projects occurring statewide.”
The bill also would appropriate $285,000 to the Department of Community Affairs
from the General Fund for the Brownfields Redevelopment Task Force to expedite
and continue its brownfield efforts and other smart growth endeavors.