United States
                        Environmental
                        Protection Agency
   Solid Waste
   and Emergency
   Response (5101)
EPA500-F-97-100
April 1997
  •6-ERft           Community  Reinvestment Act
                        (CRA)
  Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
                   Quick Reference Fact Sheet
  EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower States, communities, and other
  stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up,
  and sustainably reuse  brownfields.  A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof,  that has actual or perceived
  contamination  and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse.  EPA's Brownfields Initiative strategies include
  funding pilot programs and other research efforts, clarifying liability issues, entering into partnerships, conducting
  outreach activities, developing job training programs, and addressing environmental justice concerns.
BACKGROUND

In 1977,  Congress  enacted the  Community
Reinvestment Act (CRA) to require banks, thrifts,
and other lenders to make capital available in low-
and moderate-income urban neighborhoods, thereby
boosting the nation's efforts to stabilize these declining
areas.  Concern over potential environmental and
financial liability for cleaning up these sites has made
lenders, developers, and property owners reluctantto
finance redevelopment of these properties. Rather
than reuse former urban industrial sites, businesses
have instead moved to suburban or rural "greenfields,"
which carry fewer perceived risks to development.

In January 1995, EPA  announced its original
Brownfields Action Agenda in response to the wide-
spread economic development obstacles posed by
urban brownfields.  The (1995-1996) Brownfields
Action Agenda encouraged a cooperative approach
by EPA, lenders, and prospective purchasers to ease
fears of financial liability and regulatory burdens.
EPA has coordinated with the Office of the Comp-
troller of the Currency to create incentives within the
CRA  regulations for economic revitalization and
development.

REFORM AND OPPORTUNE

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency revised
its regulations pertaining to the CRA's implementation
in May 1995. Lenders subject to the CRA can now
claim community development loan credits for loans
made to help finance the environmental cleanup or
redevelopment of an industrial site when it is part of
an effort to revitalize the low- and moderate-income
community in which the site is located.

This provision is designed to encourage economic
activity in urban areas. It makes the financing of
industrial property redevelopment more attractive to
large lenders by providing CRA credit while aiding
the communities in which they operate. Under CRA
regulations, lenders' CRA performance may be used
as a basis for approving or denying activity in the
banking industry.

The revised CRA regulations can be found in the May
4, 1995, Federal Register (60 FR 22156).

CONTACT

William (Beau) Mills
U.S. EPA
(202) 260-3527
mills .william@epamail .epa.gov

Alternatively, please use  the Internet World Wide
Web to access the EPA Brownfields Home  Page at
       http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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