For Immediate Release

Public Relations Division
Public Affairs Department
1170 Eighth Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699
(610) 694-3711 - Phone
(610) 694-1509 - Fax

BETHLEHEM, Pa., February 7, 1996 -- The following statement was issued today by Dr. Augustine E. Moffitt Jr., Vice President, Safety Health and Environment for Bethlehem Steel Corporation, in response to federal Brownfields legislation being proposed by U.S. Rep. Jack Quinn of New York:

"Bethlehem Steel Corporation commends Congressman Jack Quinn for his leadership and initiative in the Brownfields redevelopment arena. We applaud his efforts to advance the Brownfields debate, eventually leading to the needed federal legislation that will enable the cost-effective and efficient cleanup of Brownfields sites.

"Bethlehem Steel views Brownfields development as among the most important issues facing urban America today. It is an issue that may well spell out the economic futures of many of the major cities and smaller communities whose past was built on heavy industry.

"The reuse of former industrial land presents a 'win/win' potential: Valuable greenfields, our forests and farmlands, are preserved; jobs are saved or created; tax revenues are resumed; the community is enhanced, and businesses prosper.

"Brownfield sites enjoy a number of advantages over greenfield sites. Brownfield sites are properly zoned and thus well situated for industrial use. The infrastructure and utilities necessary for industrial operations are already in place. Brownfield redevelopment preserves our nation's virgin land and natural resources.

"However, in the absence of far-reaching federal Brownfields legislation, countless acres of former industrial property lie dormant, while potential tenants of these properties opt to locate their businesses and industries on greenfields sites in the suburbs rather than risk the current state and federal environmental liabilities inherent in many urban areas.

"Bethlehem Steel, for example, in its downsizing program, has available large areas of vacant industrial property, prime for redevelopment, including land in the Lackawanna, N.Y., area. The Lackawanna property is ideally situated along the banks of Lake Erie, which makes it a prime area for industrial/commercial reuse. Yet Bethlehem has been unable to market a large portion of the site -- more than 600 acres -- because of existing environmental regulations and a lack of appropriate state and complementary federal Brownfields legislation.

"Bethlehem Steel Corporation is convinced that effective Brownfields legislation is extremely important to our nation's economy -- and to the hundreds of American communities that can benefit from revitalized manufacturing operations at these brownfield sites."

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