Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) released a new white paper today, Investing in Brownfields: Identifying Potential Funding Options for CORF 2.0, which presents five funding options for a statewide program that would invest in the remediation of environmentally contaminated land. This white paper is intended to advance conversations surrounding Ohio’s need for community-responsive brownfields funding, which has been a top policy ask of many public and private leaders across Ohio.
 
“Ohio has over 9,000 brownfields,” said Alison Goebel, Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) Executive Director. “That’s 9,000 opportunities to improve or build new residential and mixed-used neighborhoods, or return sites to productive commercial or industrial use.”
 
GOPC advocates for a brownfield remediation program with funding that is flexible, sustainable, and complementary to existing environmental remediation programs. GOPC recommends the next governor and legislature consider:

• Redirecting existing revenue from: the JobsOhio Revitalization Program, the liquor profits that JobsOhio returns to the state, or the Abandoned Gas Station Fund

• Expanding the sales tax to include additional services not currently subject to the sales tax

• Eliminating certain tax expenditures that may have a diminished level of appropriateness given the time period for which they were put into place and Ohio’s current, changing economy.  

 Ohio has the potential to bring millions of dollars in additional investment, create jobs, foster development, and generate new tax dollars through the remediation of brownfields. GOPC intends for this white paper to serve as a resource to Ohio’s next governor and legislature as they move forward policies that promote redevelopment and economic development in Ohio’s communities.

For more information about GOPC’s Brownfields funding recommendations, visit: https://www.greaterohio.org/investing-in-brownfields