Community Knowledge, Training and Assistance Communities with local health agency leadership should: ⚫ build the capacity of the community to participate by providing technical assistance, training, advisory groups and other support to insure effective participation ⚫ provide equal protection to all residents with respect to enforcement of all health and environmental laws and standards, and work to ensure the adequacy of those laws ⚫ expand and protect the public's right to know about contamination; strengthen rightto-know, enforcement, and compliance activity in affected communities ⚫ provide answers to the community's questions about public health concerns foster the development of community leaders-capacity building for the community ⚫ provide the public with access to any studies or reports completed for the redevelopment project ⚫ post signs at site in question with information on the proposed plan ⚫ interpret results of environmental impact assessments for communities (i.e., present scientific data) • work with communities to evaluate the health risks of redevelopment to the community ⚫ keep communities abreast of the results of environmental exposure assessments, as well as public health activities needed based on those assessments; receive more information on thresholds for public health effects engage in outreach efforts to existing networks and to groups that ordinarily don't participate Standards for Sustainable Communities ensure that the contamination is cleaned to appropriate health and environmental standards and does not threaten public health · ensure that laws cannot be weakened due primarily to the cost of the clean-up ensure that future use of the property does not include activity that will lead to new health problems · ensure that properties designated for residential use or schools, as compared with industrial uses, require the strictest standards ensure that clean-up standards and programs are not weakened ensure that residents are fully involved in planning and implementation of relocation plans, whenever relocation is required, as well as a plan to insure their well-being in any relocation • ensure that brownfields reuse is compatible with local land use and community perspectives 3 Monitoring, Surveillance, and Diagnosis Local health agencies should: ⚫ maintain offsite testing requirements to ensure that contamination has not migrated identify the health effects of redevelopment ensure that the affected community participates in audits and assessments and ensure that public health issues are not overlooked Funding for Public Health EPA and other granting bodies to cities must provide funding for: public health agencies to participate in redevelopment activities communities to participate in redevelopment activities ⚫ monitoring and enforcement of institutional controls as required by law Adopted by NACCHO Board of Directors September 23, 1998 Per Resolution 98-6 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 |