A pat on the back from U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe for the Oklahoma Commerce Department and its 2015 study on “The Economic Impact of Oklahoma’s Brownfields Program.”
Inhofe is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and called the report “an excellent study highlighting the economic benefits of the Oklahoma Brownfields program and its contribution to our state.”
The Brownfields program has helped with the clean-up of postindustrial sites near downtown Tulsa which made room for the new BOK Center and in Oklahoma City which allowed for the clean-up of the historic Skirvin hotel.
“As chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, one of my top priorities has been to reauthorize the federal Brownfields program, which provides vital funding and assistance for local Brownfield cleanups,” said Sen. Inhofe.
He recently introduced new Brownfields legislation, saying it will make several overdue improvements including more technical assistance grants to small communities, Indian tribes, rural areas and disadvantaged areas.”
“They leverage public finances with private investors to clean up contaminated areas that would otherwise be abandoned so they can be redeveloped into something productive and profitable,” added the Senator.