Environmental Law Matters

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) touts the success of the State's Brownfields Redevelopment Program. Since its inception in 1997, Florida's Brownfields Redevelopment Act ( Florida Statutes Sections 376.77 -376.85) has been viewed as successfully encouraging the redevelopment of abandoned or underutilized industrial and commercial property. The Brownfield's program provides a mix of regulatory and financial incentives to encourage the voluntary cleanup and redevelopment of qualified sites. FDEP recently released its Annual Report on the Brownfields Program for its fiscal year 2013-2014. To date there have been 362 Brownfield sites designated, with 75 of those sites remediated. Reflecting the maturity of the program, only 18 new sites were designate this past fiscal year, with 15 site rehabilitation agreements executed . FDEP has projected the Brownfield Program as a whole has spurred 65,000 direct and indirect jobs and a total of $2.5 billion in capital investment, of which $194,593,470 occurred in calendar year 2013.