September 16, 2003
Statement of Val Washington
Executive Director, Environmental Advocates of New York
On the Passage of Historic Superfund/brownfields Legislation

(Albany, N.Y.) – After over seven years of sometimes shrill debate, the Legislature has passed a remarkable bill that has brought diverse constituencies together. In refinancing the state Superfund, New York is now clearly committed to finishing the job of cleaning up its most toxic sites. In its creation of a new brownfields program, the bill is also offering new hope for urban revitalization and a greater focus on the thousands of lesser contaminated sites throughout the state.

Environmental Advocates of New York (EANY) has been advocating for a brownfields bill for nearly a decade and has participated in a series of collaborative efforts to craft a comprehensive approach. In the law that passed the Legislature today we see the work and brainpower of dozens of activists who have struggled over the years to overcome the many difficult issues that brownfields present. Some of the important concepts of the bill are recognizable from other proposals, including the collaborative Brownfield Coalition Bill, which EANY helped create; the bill that emerged from the Governor’s Superfund Task Force; and the various bills that were proposed by the Assembly and Senate over the years. The negotiators from the Legislature and the Governor’s office, and their leaders, did a remarkable job in bringing these concepts together and in adding their own creative ideas in order to bridge gaps and solve very difficult problems. We must also respectfully and gratefully acknowledge the commitment, determination and collegiality of the two Committee Chairs, Tom DiNapoli and Carl Marcellino. These two men have accomplished a major piece of environmental and economic legislation that has until now seemed unattainable.

A summary of S.5702/A.9120 can be viewed here.