Brownfields program could rehabilitate a thousand sites

At least a thousand sites across the state that have been contaminated by pollution will be eligible for a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) “brownfields” program designed to allow the properties to be cleaned up and put back into use.

“We want to take unused, contaminated properties, get them cleaned up and back on the tax rolls to create jobs and opportunities,” said Jerry Banks, chief of the hazardous waste division in DEQ`s Office of Pollution Control. “Taking these existing contaminated sites and cleaning them up prevents contamination of other pristine property. That is one way to preserve `greenfields` or pristine properties. We can develop these existing properties rather than go out and develop on clean land. We think that is the thing to do.”

Banks said there are roughly a thousand sites on the states “uncontrolled sites list” of contaminated properties…

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