Environmentalists wonder about impact of brownfield bills

By ISAAC CONSTANS
Capital News Service
LANSING– For once, many environmental advocates would rather that investors not go green. Rather than developing new properties, environmentalists prefer brownfields — sites that are contaminated and require clean-up. They say legislation that passed the Senate might encourage more urban redevelopment and less expansion outwards. Under the proposal, five brownfield transformation projects would be eligible for tax benefits for decontaminating and preparing new structures on polluted land. Whether in the form of grants or tax relief, such incentives are imperative to facilitate purchasing of brownfields, said Carrie Geyer, a supervisor of the Brownfield Redevelopment Unit of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.