Edwards, Crockett introduce bill to incentivize investment in WNC communities with environmental challenges

U.S. Congressman Chuck Edwards (NC-11) today re-introduced the Economic Opportunity for Distressed Communities Act to designate all Superfund and brownfield areas as Opportunity Zones to encourage the clean-up, redevelopment, and revitalization of hazardous waste sites. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30) is co-leading this bipartisan bill.

“I have heard from numerous constituents who are interested in developing environmentally challenged properties but decided not to because there isn’t enough incentive. Due to Superfund and brownfield sites’ contamination, many locations with potential sit unoccupied for years,”said Congressman Edwards.“If cleaned, brownfields and Superfund sites can be redeveloped into new housing or business space, and promoting cleanup and development of these sites will create jobs, business opportunities, and increase property values for Western North Carolina and nationwide.”

“Communities like mine in Texas’s 30th Congressional District have too often suffered from land pollution and ongoing harm caused by industrial businesses that are no longer in operations in our district,”stated Congresswoman Crockett. “While the Environmental Protection Agency has previously been helpful in providing districts with funds to remediate and clean Superfund sites and Brownfields so our children can safely play and communities can repurpose and build on the land, we also need to incentivize the private sector if we are truly going to increase the level of improvement of these lands when federal resources do not. I am proud to join my colleague in introducing our bill that takes an all-hands-on-deck approach to cleaning our communities and helping create and build parks, affordable homes, stores, and small businesses.” 

BACKGROUND

• In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act established the Opportunity Zone tax incentive as an economic development tool to spur economic growth and job creation in distressed communities across the United States.
  • The current Opportunity Zone program focuses solely on low-income communities and fails to consider the need for similar investment in communities with additional hardships, such as brownfield and Superfund sites, which face significant environmental burdens.
• Brownfield and Superfund sites are properties that contain hazardous waste, pollutants, or other contaminants.
  • Due to the sites’ contamination, developers and investors are hesitant to purchase them.
  • The land is typically cheaper, but significant cleanup, redevelopment costs, and time delays are often present.
• In the United States, there are more than 1,300 Superfund sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List, the list of properties of national priority due to the known presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants, and more than 450,000 brownfield sites.

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR DISTRESSED COMMUNITIES ACT

• This bill designates all Superfund and brownfield areas as Opportunity Zones to encourage the redevelopment and revitalization of these properties with environmental challenges.
• A site’s designation as an Opportunity Zone will provide investors with the ability to defer tax on a capital gain if that gain is invested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund within 180 days of realizing the gain.