What are the states roles under the Brownfields Tax Incentive?
A31: States address two basic requirements under the tax incentive. First, the law required that each state designate, within sixty (60) days after the law’s enactment (August 5, 1997), a lead agency as the “appropriate state environmental agency” to handle inquiries and requests for property certifications from its taxpayers. The law authorized EPA to make this designation if states did not make it within 60 days. Second, the law required that states provide each of their taxpayers, upon request, a written statement that a specific property meets the following two elements of the “qualified contaminated site” requirement: (a) the property is within a defined targeted area (this geographic requirement is no longer applicable; see Question/Answer #5 for further details); and (b) there has been a release, threat of release, or disposal of any hazardous substance at or on the property. It is expected that taxpayers will rely upon tax counsel, not their designated state agency, for clarifi
