MBS Process

• Since its inception, EPA’s Brownfields Program has grown into a proven, results-oriented program that has changed the way contaminated property is perceived, addressed, and managed. EPA's Brownfields Program is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainable reuse Brownfields. A Brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 Brownfields in the U.S. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment. Initially, EPA provided small amounts of seed money to local governments that launched hundreds of two-year Brownfield "pilot" projects.  The Brownfields Law expanded EPA's assistance by providing new tools for the public and private sectors to promote sustainable Brownfields cleanup and reuse.The Brownfields Law expanded EPA's assistance by providing new tools for the public and private sectors to promote sustainable Brownfields cleanup and reuse.
   
• The expanded Brownfields Law now includes 4 subcategories.
   
• Portfields Programs – These are properties in and around port communities such as Port Newark, Port of Philadelphia and Port of Baltimore on the east coast.
   
• Mine – Scarred Lands (MSL) – Areas where years of strip mining have left the land barren. Where clean up and redevelopment will generate much needed local taxes.
   
• West Virginia Railfields Programs – properties around rail hubs, which need clean up, and redevelopment. The north east corridor and California Underground Tanks Storage (UTS) – Petroleum Brownfields – Areas where abandoned underground tanks lie decaying, further contaminating the facilities. The northeast and south refinery areas.