George Voinovich: “Revitalizing our urban areas has been an issue I have been passionate about for many years. As former Mayor of…”

“Revitalizing our urban areas has been an issue I have been passionate about for many years. As former Mayor of Cleveland, I experienced firsthand the difficulties that cities face in redeveloping these sites for reuse. The legislation I am introducing today with Senator Coleman, the Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2004, will provide incentives to clean up abandoned industrial sites--or brownfields--across the country and put them back into productive use and preserve our green spaces. I have been working on brownfields issues at the national level since I became Governor of Ohio in 1990 and through my involvement with the National Governors' Association and the Republican Governors' Association. For almost 15 years, I have worked closely with congressional leaders to develop legislation that would encourage cleanup and redevelopment of these sites nationwide. In 2001, I was closely involved in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's work on the Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act which, in part, provided grants to local governments to remediate and redevelop brownfields sites. Grants such as these are important because they provide incentives to clean up existing sites, which will provide better protection for the health and safety of our citizens and the environment.”