ABSTRACT
The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002 addresses some of the shortcomings of the original Superfund law. By creating a stigma regarding properties that have actual or perceived contamination, Superfund quite possibly accelerated the process of urban decay and complicated governmental efforts at urban renewal. The barriers to expansion, redevelopment, and reuse of brownfields can be grouped into two categories: liability protections and economic incentives. One of the primary goals of the Brownfields Act was to establish the criteria with which a purchaser of contaminated sites could be exempt from Superfund liability. Brownfields often lie in urban areas that have become blighted through past operations, age, and disuse. Federal and state brownfields programs offer a wide variety of economic incentives to prospective brownfields redevelopers. Many federal and state programs offer low interest or no interest loans to prospective brownfield redevelopers.
