Realtors group urges federal restoration of lands

The National Association of Realtors is leading a broad coalition of environmental, business, and public-interest groups in urging the U.S. Senate to expedite consideration of Senate Bill 350, the Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act, according to an NAR news release.

Mike Ford, a Realtor based in Clark, NJ, testified for the NAR before the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control and Risk Assessment.

"NAR supports S.350," he said, "because it will effectively promote the cleanup and reuse of thousands of brownfield sites. Across the nation, the real-estate industry is increasingly comfortable with ... rejuvenated properties."

Ford, a real estate broker with 27 years of commercial and residential experience, said, "In New Jersey, a recent Rutgers University report estimates that, within a mere decade, brownfield redevelopment can create 66,000 permanent jobs, new housing for 71,000 Americans, and $62 million in new tax revenues." One private developer took advantage of a state program initiated by Gov. Whitman, now Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency that reimburses up to 75 percent of the remediation and clean-up costs of turning an abandoned factory into a mixed-use project with commercial, retail and housing elements," Ford added.

Brownfields are defunct, derelict, or abandoned industrial sites, many of them tainted with toxic wastes. The federal General Accounting Office believes there may be 500,000 brownfields across the country. Today, many of these old factories and warehouses are being replaced with cultural facilities, playgrounds and open space, and a diversity of housing configurations, according to the release.

"Support for this bill also fits NAR's Smart Growth Initiative, our program to support policies that improve the quality of civic and community life while allowing market forces to generate rational growth and satisfy demands for affordable housing," Ford said.

Ford emphasized that a shortage of clean-up funds and a general concern about liability continue to haunt the brownfields issue. "But S.350 effectively addresses these issues in its three most important provisions."

"First, it provides funds for federal and state programs. You need greenbacks to scrub brownfields. Second, it dissipates the dark clouds of liability that shadow innocent property-owners. Real polluters should pay so that hazardous sites return to productive use as quickly as possible. Third, it gives federal recognition to the finality of successful state cleanups. In other words, S.350 provides closure for the clean-up process," Ford said.