DiNapoli Asks Cleanup of Brownfield Program

ALBANY-Ten years after the Empire State's Brownfield Cleanup Program was enacted, the state comptroller says it can be carried out more efficiently and more cost-effectively. In a report issued earlier this week, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli recommends that the New York State Legislature look at ways of restructuring the program as its sunset draw near.

“While two decades of efforts to clean up brownfields have delivered some successes, much more can and should be done,” DiNapoli says in a release. “Thousands of contaminated sites in communities across the state continue to pose environmental and health threats and prevent economic development. The state has an opportunity now to improve the cleanup program to encourage more remediation and redevelopment of contaminated properties, and do so in a more cost-effective manner through better targeting of program dollars.”

To date, 128 brownfield sites have been remediated via the BCP at a cost of $923 million, mostly in the form of as-of-right tax credits, out of a total of 408 sites statewide through the BCP and two other programs. DiNapoli projects a potential overall tax credit liability to the state of $3.3 billion, based on the 389 sites currently enrolled in the BCP. He believes state lawmakers should consider maintaining as-of-right tax credits for site clean-ups while decoupling the tax credits for site redevelopment from admission to the program.

Currently, as-of-right tax credits are automatically granted to enrollees in the BCP. In his report, DiNapoli says the incentives needed to encourage development of the reclaimed properties and determinations on appropriate development credits should come instead from the state's economic development agencies.

“When compared to other New York State voluntary remediation programs, the BCP financial incentives are the most costly to the state,” DiNapoli writes in his report. “For the years in which the Tax Department has reported tax credit information, the total value of BCP tax credits either rivals or significantly outstrips spending on the State Superfund. The BCP tax credits rank among the most generous in the nation.”