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Philadelphia Brownfields Pilot Project
05/10/1996| Carol M. Browner Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Philadelphia Brownfields Pilot Project Philadelphia, PA Prepared for Delivery May 10, 1996 I am glad to be here with Mayor Rendell, Congressman Foglietta, EPA Regional Administrator Mike McCabe, and members of the community here in Philadelphia. The Clinton Administration is proud to be part of this very important effort to redevelop and restore the former industrial site where we are standing and to bring to the City of Philadelphia new jobs, new commercial development -- new hope. The Clinton Administration's Brownfields Action Agenda is helping to revitalize communities across the country. Throughout the nation, we must accept the challenge to clean up and redevelop our communities, to revitalize our economy and leave a better world for our children. The Philadelphia project is a fine examples of how business and communities are coming together to build a better future. The people of Philadelphia have seen the promise of places like this site. To help make that promise a reality, the Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the City of Philadelphia a grant of $200,000 over two years. With this money, the city will promote environmental renewal and economic development the way you believe it can best be done -- by bringing together citizens, developers, lenders, and builders to make the decisions and bring places like this one back to life. EPA has funded brownfields pilot projects like this one in 40 communities. We have removed 27,000 sites from the Superfund inventory -- 2300 of them in Pennsylvania -- removing the stigma and clearing the way for redevelopment. And we have removed tens of thousands of small parties -- the "little guys" -- from the Superfund liability net. President Clinton has also announced another important step in urban cleanup and revitalization. He has challenged Congress to enact a new Brownfields Tax Incentive, to provide a financial boost to those who purchase, clean up, and redevelop abandoned and contaminated urban properties. To continue our progress in cleaning up and redeveloping contaminated land, President Clinton has also called on Congress to fix the Superfund toxic waste cleanup law, to speed the pace of cleanup and to continue to hold big polluters accountable for the damage they have done. The polluter, not the taxpayer, must pay. We look forward to working with Congress to pass a new, responsible Superfund law. And, we look forward to continuing to support the work you are doing, to clean up and redevelop places like this one. |
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