Press Releases

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Environment, chaired by U.S. Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA), held a hearing entitled “Maximizing Opportunities for Redeveloping Brownfield Sites: Assessing the Potential for New American Innovation.”

As a witness invited to the hearing, LENOWISCO Planning District Commission Executive Director Mr. Duane Miller of Scott County testified to the benefits of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields Program in rural, coal communities. LENOWISCO has played an integral role in attracting emerging industries to Southwest Virginia, creating jobs and cleaning up abandoned sites in the region.

Chairman Griffith’s opening remarks on the potential for brownfield sites to revitalize former mine land for economic development can be viewed here. Mr. Miller’s opening statement on the Brownfields Program can be viewed here and his responses to Chairman Griffith here.

BACKGROUND

LENOWISCO Planning District Commission serves the Counties of Lee, Wise and Scott and the City of Norton.

The Brownfields Program empowers states, communities and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse brownfields.

A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.

One recent Brownfields Program project involving LENOWISCO Planning District Commission is sponsored by Virginia Tech that trains local dislocated workers, veterans and individuals impacted by the decline in the coal industry to clean up brownfield sites.

In the last 10 years, there were roughly 15 Brownfields Program grants rewarded to projects located in the Ninth District.

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