The brownfields agenda: will redevelopers of contaminated properties really be protected from environmental liability?

摘要

The EPA and approximately 30 states have recently initiated pilot projects, adopted guidance policies or legislation to encourage redevelopment of contaminated industrial sites or "brownfields" with the recognition that these sites are now laying idle due to a prevailing fear of potential past and future environmental liability. The fear of liability associated with redeveloping existing industrial sites, which are predominantly located in urban areas, has caused industrial development to move away from cities to formerly undeveloped rural or suburban areas known as "greenfields".