New Milford State Representative Bill Buckbee co-sponsored a bill which was approved on a nearly unanimous vote this week.  The bill seeks to improve brownfield remediation efforts by creating a legal blueprint for organizing and operating local nonprofit land banks to acquire and remediate tracts of land that have been identified as brownfields. 

Buckbee says only government entities have previously been allowed to apply for brownfield remediation incentives, such as tax credits, but by allowing qualified nonprofit organizations to also access these resources is a win-win.  According to Buckbee, for a nonprofit to qualify as a Connecticut Brownfield Land Bank it must apply to the Department of Economic and Community Development. 

The bill passed with only one dissenting vote and now awaits further action in the Senate.