The Environmental Protection Agency is ready to back legislation under which an estimated 450,000 contaminated, abandoned parcels of land could be restored to productive use.

The bill would clarify liability issues for property owners willing to cleaning up the sites, known as "brownfields." It also would broaden the types of pollutants and sites that could be addressed and provide critical federal cash infusions for local governments to conduct site assessments and clean-ups.

"EPA's brownfields program is not perfect," the agency's Kevin Matthews said during a program at the National Association of Home Builders' convention here earlier this month. "But it gets us 97 percent of the way there."

The NAHB has made brownfields one of its top legislative priorities this year because many are in key city or first-tier suburban locations which could support housing or other types of construction. In addition, said an association spokesman, their re-development is a way of promoting smart growth.

The National Association of Realtors also supports legislation that would relieve innocent property owners of liability. "Breathing life into brownfield sites presents excellent opportunities for economic, environmental and social revitalization," the NAR says.

Under the current law, which was passed in 1980, generators of hazardous substances, transporters who selected the site and current and previous property owners are liable for the site's condition. But because of the burdensome requirements they must meet, the parcels are rarely detoxified and redeveloped.

The EPA's bill, "The American Brownfields Revitalization Act," covers contaminants listed under the 1980 so-called "Superfund" law as well as other more common, less dangerous materials, including asbestos, lead-based paints, PCBs and petroleum.

The agency says that without some incentives, wastelands may never be put back into productive use.

Under the measure, said Ron Fox, an attorney who represents the NAHB on the issue, a property owner who cleans up his site under a state brownfields program that has been approved by the EPA, federal authorities "cannot come back and demand anything else except under limited, extreme circumstances."

Said Columbus, Ohio, builder Charlie Ruma, last year's NAHB president: "(EPA Administrator) Carol Browner, the EPA and NAHB are on the same side of this issue."

Published: January 26, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.