Washington, D.C. — The following are opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, from Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Frederica Wilson (D-FL) during today’s hearing titled, “Cleaning Up the Past, Building the Future: The Brownfields Program.”
More information on the hearing can be found here.
Ranking Member Larsen:
Thank you, Chairman Collins and Ranking Member Wilson, for holding this hearing on the Brownfields program.
The EPA’s Brownfields Program is one of the most effective tools we have for turning the legacy of pollution into opportunities for progress.
Since its inception, this program has returned over 10,800 sites to productive reuse, leveraging more than $40.4 billion in redevelopment funding and supporting over 270,000 jobs.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law delivered $1.5 billion over five years to support assessment, cleanup, job training and technical assistance for communities across the country.
These are smart, targeted investments that turn blighted properties into engines of economic growth and environmental justice. They help build parks, revitalize neighborhoods, expand tax bases and protect public health—all while creating jobs.
In Washington’s Second District, the Brownfields Program has helped transform the historic Northern State Hospital in Sedro-Woolley—once a contaminated and abandoned facility—into a thriving hub for innovation, known today as the SWIFT Center.
This 225-acre site is being repurposed into a mixed-use campus focused on technology, job creation, historic preservation, and public recreation through partnerships with the Port of Skagit and local and state agencies.
Contaminants like arsenic and chlorinated solvents have been identified and addressed through EPA and state-supported grants—nearly $600,000 in federal funding alone.
Thanks to the Brownfields program, the SWIFT Center now supports local employment and protects sensitive habitat like Hansen Creek while still honoring the legacy of Northern State Hospital.
However, the continued success of the brownfields program is now at risk. The Trump Administration’s “skinny budget” has proposed cutting EPA funding by 55%—the largest rollback in the agency’s history.
These reckless cuts would devastate the Brownfields Program and undermine communities still living with the consequences of past industrial pollution.
These cuts will also disproportionately impact rural, disadvantaged communities and working-class neighborhoods—those who can least afford the loss of targeted federal assistance.
We must continue to invest in these projects. Every dollar spent cleaning up a brownfield site is a dollar spent creating jobs, restoring communities, and building a healthier future for all Americans.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about how we can protect and expand this vital work.
Ranking Member Wilson:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for hosting today’s discussion on how federal brownfields investments help to revitalize our communities.
EPA’s brownfields program has, on most accounts, been successful in redeveloping abandoned or under-utilized properties throughout the nation.
According to EPA, roughly half of the U.S. population lives within three miles of a brownfields site that receives EPA funding—which includes sites in rural, Tribal, and economically-disadvantaged communities.
As of December 2023, EPA brownfields grants have prepared over 10,800 properties for productive use and leveraged over 270 thousand jobs and over $40.4 billion in private investment.
I have heard questions whether all communities have equally benefited from this critical redevelopment investment or whether this investment has actually benefited those who have had to suffer with legacy contamination for decades.
But those questions do not undermine the fact that the program is making a difference in revitalizing neighborhoods.
Many States and local governments, such as my home state of Florida and Miami-Dade County, have been leaders in the implementation of the brownfields law.
In its brief history as a state-delegated brownfields program, Miami-Dade County has successfully assessed and remediated 31 brownfields sites, with an additional 74 sites under active review.
I hope to learn more about these efforts from our witness, Mr. Goldstein, who worked on projects at contaminated sites in over 90 jurisdictions across the state of Florida.
Continued success in brownfields redevelopment depends on continued federal partnerships with, and funding for, states, local governments, redevelopment interests and community leaders.
Yet, this success is undermined by the chaos that the President, and his Republican allies in Congress, continue to create with their management of the government and the economy.
This economic chaos created by the President, and rubber stamped by Republicans in Congress, continues to push up inflation and the costs of groceries and other commodities, and push down consumer confidence.
In just over 100 days, American families are paying more and getting less—and this trend continues.
States have already testified that the President’s disruption in water infrastructure financing was having an impact on local redevelopment projects—resulting in project delays, increased costs and the potential abandonment of local projects.
This uncertainty is equally felt within the brownfields community and made worse by the President’s proposal to zero out EPA investments in brownfields and other critical grant programs.
The President’s indifference to the needs of everyday Americans is striking. The economic chaos he creates, and that my Republican colleagues’ silence seems to encourage, threatens the jobs of laborers, manufacturers and brownfields redevelopers and threatens to decimate our national, regional and local economies.
Our communities cannot withstand further setbacks caused by the Republican’s vainglorious efforts to drive our economy into the ground.
We cannot allow the President and his allies to burden American families with increased costs and public health risks.
I stand with our communities who are trying to affordably meet their local needs and keep our families safe, healthy and prosperous.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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