FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2001 ERIK SMULSON OR DAN BRESETTE

(202) 224-5141

JEFFORDS LAUDS APPROVAL OF BROWNFIELDS BILL BY SENATE

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., today praised the passage of the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, which came in the final hours before the Senate adjourned Thursday night. Jeffords is chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), which has jurisdiction over clean-up efforts.

"This legislation is a victory for small businesses, on which the foundation of our nation's economy is built. This bill will revitalize once-abandoned factory sites, give new life to our aging industrial sites, and provide hope and prosperity to locations long ago forgotten," said Jeffords. "I would like to recognize the efforts of Senators Smith, Chafee, Baucus, and Boxer, all of whom provided important leadership on this issue."

The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act provides assistance to the estimated 450,000 contaminated or abandoned industrial and commercial sites throughout the U.S., which often pose serious pollution and health effects. This bill's goal is to improve local clean-up efforts by providing assessment and clean-up grants; enhancing states' clean-up programs; offering liability relief for contiguous property owners, prospective purchasers, and innocent landowners; and by setting parameters by which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may re-enter a site to protect the environment and human health.

The bill will now move to the President for his signature.

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