For Immediate Release: August 10, 2011
DEP PROGRAM PARTNERS WITH COMMUNITIES TO CLEAN UP POLLUTION AND
REVITALIZE ECONOMY
~DEP’s Brownfields
Program Annual Report highlights successes~
Using the Florida Brownfields
Program, the City of Ft. Myers has cleaned up and transformed the
contaminated site of a former coal gasification plant into
a new community asset, "Imaginarium." The campus includes a children’s museum, theater, outdoor pavilion,
lagoon system and emergency operations center.
TALLAHASSEE —The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently
released the Florida Brownfields Redevelopment Program Annual Report for Fiscal
Year 2010 - 2011. Submitted each year to the Governor, President of the Senate
and Speaker of the House of Representatives, the report describes DEP’s
progress and level of activity in implementing the Florida Brownfields
Redevelopment Act. The report documents
the Program’s continued success in revitalizing brownfield areas despite current
economic challenges.
“The Florida Brownfields Program empowers
communities, local governments and other stakeholders to work together to
assess, clean up and reuse sites that have been previously impacted by
pollutants,” said DEP Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr. “Once the
cleanup is complete and the site is redeveloped, brownfields can significantly
benefit local economies through job creation and capital investment
opportunities.”
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 clean up and redevelop sites, create
new jobs and enhance the local economy. To make the program’s incentives
available to a community, a local government must designate a brownfields area
by resolution. Currently, 279 brownfield areas have been designated
statewide, some of which are located in economically depressed neighborhoods.
Program
highlights from July 2010 through June 2011 include:
- From January 2010
through December 2010, 2,372 projected new direct jobs, 3,057 projected new
indirect jobs and over $128 million in projected new capital investment were
attributable to the Program. To date in calendar year 2011, 1,556
projected new direct jobs, 1,312 projected new indirect jobs and $76 million in
projected new capital investment are attributable to the Program.
-
Sixteen municipalities and county
governments approved local resolutions that designated 17 additional brownfield
areas.
-
Thirteen brownfield site rehabilitation
agreements were executed, bringing the program total to 159.
- Ten brownfield
sites completed cleanup of contamination. Forty-seven brownfield sites have
completed cleanup since inception of the program.
-
DEP received 40 tax
credit applications totaling almost $5 million for site rehabilitation work
completed at brownfields sites in 2010.
To view the report, please visit:
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