State, local, and community-based brownfields projects are “poised to tap into a number of funding provisions” of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (P.L. 111-5), according to a new analysis of the legislation's impact on the brownfields industry.

“All in all, the stimulus package has significant potential to help public and private stakeholders carry out brownfields strategies,” said the analysis by Charles Bartsch, a brownfields consultant and senior fellow at the Fairfax, Va., consulting firm ICF International.

The stimulus bill contains brownfields-related funding opportunities through programs run by several federal agencies, including an additional $100 million for EPA's brownfields grants program, according to the analysis released Feb. 18.

Grant programs under the departments of Energy and Commerce, which also received additional funding in the stimulus package, can play a role in brownfields development as well, the analysis said. “It's going to be all about connecting the dots” across those programs, Bartsch told BNA.

The stimulus legislation waives the 20 percent cost-share requirement applicable to the regular brownfields cleanup grant awards, which is “a big deal,” according to Bartsch. Communities that are “cash strapped” but have sites ready for assessment or cleanup will welcome this provision, he said. The waiver will allow some projects to go ahead that otherwise might not get off the ground until project officials could “scrape up the additional funds,” he added.

Bartsch said the $6 billion provided for EPA's state clean water and drinking water state revolving fund programs also can benefit brownfields revitalization projects. “Communities in some states have used these [revolving loan funds] to meet brownfield cleanup needs at sites and facilities that affect water quality,” Bartsch said.

The stimulus package provides the Department of Energy with $3.2 billion in funds for an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants program, intended to help states and communities invest in construction or retrofitting of structures with the goal of increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. These activities increasingly are likely to occur on a brownfields site, for example, when a solar panel farm is installed on a vacant lot or larger abandoned property, Bartsch explained.

The new law also provides $150 million for Economic Development Assistance (EDA) grants administered by the Department of Commerce. Bartsch said there is a “long history” of EDA grants as complements to EPA brownfields grants. EDA grants assist in the “back-end,” or real estate development component, of site development, while the EPA grants fund “front-end” work, the assessment and cleanup of contaminated sites, according to the Commerce Department.

At EPA, David Lloyd, director of the agency's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, said his office still is “working out details” of how to integrate the new funds into its ongoing grants program. The exact share of the $100 million allocated to each grant category is not yet determined. The amount represents more than has ever been appropriated in one year for competitive grants since the brownfields program was separately authorized in 2002 under the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act.

Copyright 2009, The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.