Each year in the U.S., 400,000 acres of farmland, woodland, and other undeveloped areas are bulldozed for subdivisions, shopping malls, and roads. Urban sprawl is destroying farmland and wildlife habitat, reducing open space for recreation, increasing air pollution, and causing unprecedented traffic congestion across the U.S., prompting a groundswell of local initiatives to preserve open space, increase public transit, and redevelop "brownfields" (former industrial areas which are environmentally contaminated, abandoned, or underutilized). In November 1998, three fourths of all environmental ballot proposals passed, although the results in the West were somewhat less favorable. The Clinton Administration has proposed a change in the tax code to enable communities to raise over $10 billion for open space protection through a new bond program. In addition, the President requested for fiscal year 2000 a $1 billion Lands Legacy initiative to help communities protect farms, forests, urban parks and other local green spaces. Congress authorized only a third of the President's request, which will constrain grassroots efforts to fight sprawl and save open space. 
Jewish communities will have increasing opportunities to join with a wide range of religious and other civic groups to advocate "smart growth" planning to contain urban sprawl and promote economic development in urban centers and older suburbs by rehabilitating brownfields and other areas with existing infrastructure. Furthermore, Jewish institutions and individuals living in urban areas will be called upon to ensure that their own building plans and residential choices are consistent with the containment of sprawl and the redevelopment of cities.
Resolution on "Brownfields" Legislation
Adopted by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs Plenum February 23, 1998, Fort Lauderdale, FL
At the state and federal level, numerous new programs have been proposed or initiated, and a variety of new laws have been passed in an effort to spur the development of "Brownfields," or former industrial sites, primarily clustered in and around older urban areas, which are environmentally contaminated, abandoned, or underutilized. Brownfields programs and laws seek to encourage the cleanup of these contaminated sites and their subsequent development in order to revitalize America's many troubled and underutilized urban areas. Many Brownfields are found in predominantly low income and minority neighborhoods which lack both employment opportunities and safe public spaces.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs strongly supports responsible Brownfields legislation and programs that will create incentives for the development of former industrial sites by providing proper and manageable flexibility in remediation, while assuring the long term protection of human health, the integrity of usable environmental resources, and the meaningful participation of all affected local community groups in cleanup and redevelopment decisions. The JCPA believes that Brownfields legislation that requires full protection of public health and the environment for the surrounding communities is an important tool for improving the economy of former industrial areas, facilitating the clean-up of contaminated industrial sites, creating jobs and conserving existing open space and unspoiled areas. The JCPA supports carefully formulated Brownfields laws that encourage and create incentives for responsible development while assuring the environmental and health related protections that must be the cornerstone of any environmental legislation or regulation.
