Brownfields Sites Poised for Big Funding Amid Equity Concerns

Plans to use billions of infrastructure dollars to clean up and redevelop long-neglected brownsfield waste sites may cause unintended harm to low-income neighborhoods, advocates warned a House panel Wednesday.

A “chronic underfunding” of the Environmental Protection Agency’s program has created a backlog and left one in four applications for local brownfield projects without funding each year, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said at the hearing. The infrastructure investment is projected to generate $30 billion in added private sector investments and 150,000 new jobs, he said.

But environmental justice advocates told lawmakers that the program could lead to ...