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1 1 (September 8, 2006)

handle is hein.crs/crsajii0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS22502 September 8, 2006 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Brownfields in the 109th Congress Mark Reisch Analyst in Environmental Policy Resources, Science, and Industry Division Summary The Brownfields Act, which authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to award grants for the assessment and cleanup of sites that pose a less serious threat to human health and the environment than sites addressed by the Superfund program, expires on September 30, 2006. A reauthorization bill, H.R. 5810, was reported from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on July 28, 2006 (H.Rept. 109-608, Part 1), and now awaits action by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill would renew the authorization through FY2012 at the current level of $200 million annually. It also reauthorizes provisions that provide financial assistance for state and tribal cleanup programs at the current level of $50 million per year (for a total authorization of $250 million). Appropriations in the last four years have been between $165 million and $171 million. The Department of Housing and Urban Development also has a small Brownfields Program, which may be eliminated, and approximately 20 other agencies have programs or activities that foster cleanup and development. For more information on the origins and development of the Brownfields Program, see CRS Report RL30972, The Brownfields Program Authorization: Cleanup of Contaminated Sites, and CRS Report 97-73 1, Superfund and the Brownfields Issue, both by Mark Reisch. The Superfund Program is the federal government's main effort to clean up abandoned, accidentally spilled, and illegally dumped hazardous waste that poses current or future threats to human health or the environment. It focuses on the worst spills and other releases of hazardous substances, whereas the Brownfields Program is designed to assist local governments with the cleanup of abandoned, idled, or underutilized commercial and industrial sites where the contamination, if any, is not as serious. Amendments to the Superfund Act' in 2002 (P.L. 107-118, known as the Brownfields Act) gave statutory authority to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9601-9675).

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