Frank Lautenberg: “I rise to engage several of my colleagues in a colloquy regarding an important provision in the manager's substitute…”

“I rise to engage several of my colleagues in a colloquy regarding an important provision in the manager's substitute amendment to S. 1637. Section 641 of the manager's amendment was filed by me as an amendment to S. 1637, and it was co-sponsored by Senators Chafee, Dole and Lieberman. The language of my amendment is based on S. 1936, the Brownfield Revitalization Act of 2003, a bipartisan bill that was introduced last year by Senator Baucus and cosponsored by Senators Inhofe, Dole and Rockefeller. However, the version of my amendment that is included in the manager's substitute contains several modifications which improve it. My amendment relieves tax-exempt entities that invest in, clean up, and then re-sell certain brownfield properties from an obscure but significant provision in the Internal Revenue Code. First, what is a ``brownfield?'' There are various definitions of this term. In the Federal Superfund law, a ``brownfield'' is defined as ``real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.'' My own State of New Jersey uses a different definition. It defines a ``brownfield'' as ``any former or current commercial or industrial site that is currently vacant or underutilized and on which there has been, or there is suspected to have been, a discharge of a contaminant.'' Brownfields are not necessarily highly contaminated sites.”