Land Recycling, Community Revitalization, and Distributive Politics

An Analysis of EPA Brownfields Program Support

Bibliographic Data

ID6329675
AuthorsMatthew Dull (0000-0003-1070-8769, Virginia Tech), Kris Wernstedt (0000-0003-4448-4724, Virginia Tech)
Year2010
Volume38
Issue1
Pages119-141
Publication date2010-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolicy Studies Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0190-292X • E-ISSN: 1541-0072
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1541-0072.2009.00347.x
OpenAlexW1965485245
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited61

This article examines social, economic, and political factors influencing the distribution of resources to local governments under the EPA Brownfields Program, an innovative federal effort to encourage the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated properties. Signed into law in 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act provided the program with a congressional mandate, new tools to promote reuse such as liability protections, and increased funding up to a level of $250 million per year. This article contributes to research on environmental regulatory reform with an analysis of successful and unsuccessful local government applicants for EPA Brownfields Program support between 2003 and 2007. Building on prior research, we develop a series of expectations and an empirical model, and estimate the influence of program priorities, government and civic capacity, interest group pressures, and institutional politics. Results point to significant relationships between program priorities and award patterns. Contrary both to EPA's explicit commitments to equity and to analysis of pre‐2003 award patterns, however, we find negative correlations between the proportions of local populations that are nonwhite or low‐income and the likelihood of receiving an award. In addition, better‐resourced governments and several dimensions of political representation show strong associations with the likelihood of winning awards. We conclude by discussing implications

Business · Economic growth · Economics · Equity (law · Government (linguistics · Liability · Local government · Mandate · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Redevelopment · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Law · Public Administration · Regulation and Compliance Studies · Finance

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