FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 8, 2013
FLORIDA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM FACILITATES JOB CREATION, CAPITAL INVESTMENT
~Annual report shows $107 million capital investment in 2013~
TALLAHASSEE –This week, the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection released its Florida Brownfields
Redevelopment Program Annual Report for fiscal year 2012-13, which highlights
job creation efforts and projects new capital investment of $107 million to
date in 2013. The annual report is submitted to the Governor, Florida Senate
President and Florida Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Florida Brownfields Program
facilitates redevelopment and job creation by empowering communities, local
governments and other stakeholders to work together to assess, clean up and
reuse sites that may have been previously impacted by pollutants. Brownfields are
properties where expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the
presence or potential presence of environmental pollution.
Established in 1997,
the Florida Brownfields Redevelopment Program utilizes economic and regulatory
incentives to encourage the use of private revenue to restore and redevelop
sites, create new jobs and boost the local economy. Partners in the
Florida Brownfields Redevelopment Program include local governments, the
Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Economic Opportunity and Enterprise Florida, Inc.
"Florida's Brownfields
Program continues to facilitate the successful redevelopment of underutilized areas
throughout the state," said Jorge Caspary, Director of the Division of
Waste Management. "This program not only makes it possible to mitigate contaminated sites, but also
creates jobs and stimulates the economy in the process."
Since inception of the program,
64 contaminated sites have been cleaned up, more than 50,000 confirmed and
projected direct and indirect jobs have been created and $2.4 billion in
capital investment has been made in designated brownfield areas. To make the
program's incentives available to a community, a local government must
designate a brownfields area by resolution. Local governments have designated
341 current brownfield areas statewide.
The annual report identifies
the accomplishments of the program and benefits to Florida in the last fiscal
year:
- Brownfield Area Designations:
22
- Brownfield Site Rehabilitation
Agreements: 20
- Site Rehabilitation Completion
Orders: 9
-
Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credits
for Brownfield Sites: 54,
totaling $5,470,181
Projected Capital Investment
- Calendar Year 2012: $823,564,841
- Calendar Year 2013 (to date): $107,405,000
Projected New Direct and
Indirect Jobs
- Calendar Year 2012:17,182
-
Calendar Year 2013 (to date): 3,810
| 
