News Releases - 2002

Governor Ryan Praises Federal Brownfield Action

Springfield, Ill. -- Governor George H. Ryan praised President Bush today for signing the bipartisan Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act.

"The Act will encourage the cleanup and redevelopment of old industrial properties, cleaning up our environment, creating new jobs and protecting small businesses from frivolous lawsuits," said Governor Ryan.

For Illinois, this means targeting under used and dangerously polluted urban and rural brownfields properties for cleanup and redevelopment. "Many communities lack the resources necessary to turn unused industrial sites into new opportunities for jobs," said Governor Ryan. "This will enhance the already successful programs in Illinois."

"Brownfields programs have been so successful, that I am gratified to see them expanded. The additional funds and protections will ultimately lead to more businesses on the tax roles, more jobs and a cleaner environment," said Illinois EPA Director Renee Cipriano. "We are anxiously awaiting enabling guidelines which spell out what this means to us."

As part of one of the nation's largest brownfields program, 148 acres of polluting abandoned landfills in Illinois have been remediated so far, with an additional 437 acres projected by 2003. Another 6,000 acres of contaminated sites have been remediated through the Agency's Voluntary Clean Up Program and 14,000 acres by the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Section, to date.

Governor Ryan's Illinois FIRST program provided nearly $80 million for brownfields projects around the state.

The state's largest showcase redevelopment projects include:

The former 23,500-acre Joliet Army Ammunition Plant is becoming part of the 1800-acre Deer Run Industrial Park, which over the next 10 years will create some 8,000 new jobs and more than $1 billion in private investment. Deer Run is the largest brownfields redevelopment in the nation.

In addition, a 1,200-acre Island City Industrial Park, a 19,000-acre tallgrass prairie, a 980-acre national cemetery and possibly a sanitary landfill will all be developed on the property.

The former US Steel site in Chicago is becoming the home to 550 new jobs with the development of a new Solo Cup factory on 107 acres, a development that will include new parkland.

The former Owens-Brockway factory site in Alton is becoming the Alton Business Park after sitting vacant for 15 years. With more than 2 million square feet of business space, the site is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs.

The Ford Motor Company will soon start construction on the Chicago Manufacturing Campus-the first automotive supplier manufacturing facility in North America. The 147-acre facility, located in southeast Chicago, adjacent to Ford's Torrance Avenue assembly plant, is estimated to be a $300 million project that will provide nearly 1,000 new jobs.

More than 2,000 acres of a former industrial area around Chicago's Lake Calumet will be cleaned and returned to the public for recreation as part of a joint state?city venture. Another 3,000 acres will be redeveloped.

An additional measure included in the new federal law provides liability protection for hundreds of brownfield sites that are being cleaned up faster and more effectively, and with less litigation, than under the federal Superfund program. Illinois is one of 40 states that has developed a voluntary cleanup program. These programs set high cleanup standards and provide liability protection under state law for new owners and operators of brownfields sites.

However, these state programs have been hindered by the lack of liability protection in federal law. The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act reforms the major hindrance to brownfields cleanup -- the federal Superfund law. The bill provides liability protection for prospective purchasers, contiguous property owners, and innocent landowners and authorizes increased funding for state and local programs that assess and clean up brownfields.