Mr. Chairman, we are Mayors Marc Morial of New Orleans, Michael Turner of Dayton, and Jim Marshall of Macon. We are pleased to appear today on behalf The U.S. Conference of Mayors, a national organization that represents more than 1,050 U.S. cities with a population of 30,000 or more. Each of us have been involved extensively in the legislative debate on brownfields redevelopment and related efforts to enact much needed reforms to the "Superfund" law. I presently serve as a Conference of Mayors Trustee, Mayor Turner is a cochair of the Conference of Mayors Brownfields Task Force and Mayor Marshall serves as co-chair of the Conference's Mayors and Bankers Task Force which is focusing on financing brownfield redevelopment deals. Mr. Chairman, the Conference's statement addresses a number of areas pertaining to the legislation before this Subcommittee today. • First, we discuss at some length why we believe Congress needs to act on legislation to further the efforts of cities and other communities in recycling brownfield properties. • We present new information documenting the scale of the brownfields problem and the many benefits that can be achieved by federal policy changes in support of our efforts. • We describe what mayors have been learning in our continuing work with bankers and other financial interests, particularly how legislative reforms can help stimulate additional private sector investment in these sites. • Finally, we talk about how your legislation, "Recycle America's Land Act" or H.R. 1300, responds to the many issues raised by mayors and others who are seeking to redevelop these sites. Why Congress Needs to Act on Legislation Mr. Chairman, we would like to begin by acknowledging your efforts, and those of others on this Committee, to seek a bipartisan agreement on brownfields and Superfund reform legislation. Securing consensus on this legislation is a top priority for the Conference of Mayors. Mr. Chairman, we believe the time has come to act decisively and promptly on brownfields and selected Superfund reforms. Mr. Chairman, the Conference also acknowledges and appreciates the many efforts by the Administration, particularly U.S. EPA Administrator Carol Browner, and others in Congress who have supported policies and initiatives, such as funding for local brownfields programs, to further our efforts to recycle America's land. These programs and policies have certainly helped, and again let us underscore that we are very appreciative of these efforts. But as a nation, we are not making progress at a rate that is quick enough or substantial enough given other considerations, which we discuss further in this statement. The problem of not redeveloping brownfields and our appetite for using open space is of epidemic proportions and we believe that, to date, our collective actions fail to match the challenge before the nation. Anyone who examines the brownfields issue acknowledges the importance of adopting broader strategies to promote the redevelopment of these sites. And, they also share a sense of urgency in acting promptly to address this national problem. For our part, we have tried to articulate why action and leadership by the Congress is needed. We have also directed our efforts in support of bipartisan efforts to move legislation forward. We also believe that taking on the substantial challenge of brownfields requires broad consensus among Democrats and Republicans, on many fronts. And, such consensus needs to be enduring over time, because the nature of this problem does not lend itself to a one-time legislative correction. We believe the legislation before us today is absolutely crucial in moving the nation to the next level on brownfields. It is not an endpoint. We anticipate working with you and future Congress' on redirecting the tax code, infrastructure investment patterns particularly in transportation, and other policies in the environmental arena and in housing, to make recycling our nation's land part of the nation's development life cycle. We envision a real commitment by Congress to challenge investment practices and public, private and individual decision-making that support unneeded consumption of our precious greenfields as brownfields are discarded. We know that to recycle the many thousand of properties that already exist, and to prepare for the many brownfields in progress, it requires a commitment that reaches past this Congress. And, we believe that the Congress and the Administration must answer this challenge through bipartisanship, which explains why the Conference has been steadfast in urging bipartisan action. To underscore our commitment to this principle, the Conference leaders recently wrote to the President, urging him to work with you, Mr. Chairman, and others in Congress on these issues. We also believe that mayors and many others have helped established a record on the need for federal policy reforms and other actions to deal with brownfields in a more comprehensive manner. It has been shown that Superfund's liability regime unfairly threatens innocent parties and too often drives private sector investors from brownfields to more pristine locations. And, we recognize how that this Act helps fuel a development cycle that imposes increasing burdens on all of us. We also know that mitigating the effects of this nearly twenty-year Superfund policy requires action in several areas. Foremost among them are protections for innocent parties and resources and other incentives to help us undo the stigma on these properties and change investment patterns by the private sector. We also share the view that the problem of brownfields is national in scope and transcends more localized interests in reusing these properties. Let us explain further. We see a nation where our open spaces - farms, forests and other lands - are being consumed at an alarming rate. At the same time, we know that the nation's already substantial and growing inventories of previously developed lands, most notably brownfields, are vast and can be tapped to slow our nation's demand for open space. We see a nation where existing communities, particularly our older industrial centers suffer unreasonably from the lingering effects of economic shifts and prior land uses. Once-productive lands lay fallow or underutilized, as inventories of brownfields grow relentlessly all across the nation. And, adding Superfund to the mix is one more burden added on. All of us know that this cycle - abandoning used properties in favor of pristine greenfields - can't be sustained without serious consequences for the nation. All of us increasingly understand that our patterns of urbanization are already saddling our citizens and our nation with unanticipated and unacceptable burdens, promising only more of the same in the not too distant future. Shrinking open spaces in areas where most Americans live and work is just one symptom of the many ills brought about by this cycle of using and disposing of our land. Consider other examples of more direct interest to this Committee, such as declining air and water quality, escalating flood control and transportation investment needs, and threats to drinking water supplies. As one indicator, consider that of the more than 1,050 U.S. cities with a population of 30,000 or more, nearly two-thirds of them are in areas that exceed national air quality standards for ozone. We know our development patterns are aggravating efforts to combat air pollution in areas where so many Americans now live and work. And, such patterns challenge us in other important areas, such as in the transportation arena where we are working to increase mobility, improve air quality and grow the economy. To illustrate this point further, with brownfields, we have sites that are already situated to take advantage of road and street networks, public transit and rail capacities, and the other assets that come with reusing properties in existing communities. At the same time, we are investing at a feverish pace to build new roads, new streets, new schools and other new systems to serve fewer people living farther away from existing and established communities. We all know where this development cycle is taking us and the stresses it continues to place on existing communities, our natural resources and available public and private capital resources. How we consume the nation's land resources, including our failure to effectively recycle brownfields is at the core of this. We also see a nation where existing communities which are repositories for so much of our nation's human, economic, environmental, and cultural resources needlessly placed at risk, as we, collectively, turn a blind eye to |