Bush Administration Embraces Smart Growth

Smart Growth America

Thursday, January 24, 2002

BUSH ADMINISTRATION EMBRACES ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVE;

Whitman continues Smart Growth leadership.

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman tonight announced the Bush Administration's support for Smart Growth, an approach to growth that preserves open space and farmland while promoting investment in existing communities. As Governor of New Jersey, Whitman was one of the nation's strongest proponents of Smart Growth.

"Addressing new environmental challenges requires us to manage all of our resources better – economic, social, and environmental – and manage them for the long term. That is why Smart Growth is so important – it is critical to economic growth, the development of healthy communities, and the protection of our environment all at the same time," said Whitman, addressing the New Partners for Smart Growth conference in San Diego, CA. "The Bush Administration – and the EPA especially – understands the importance of Smart Growth."

Administrator Whitman also announced two new initiatives to support local smart growth efforts. The EPA will establish a National Award for Smart Growth Achievement, which will recognize communities and individual leaders who have been innovative and successfully applied smart growth principles. A second initiative will help local planners better integrate brownfields redevelopment and open space preservation through grants and technical assistance.

"This may be the beginning of a proactive Bush environmental agenda, " said Don Chen, Executive Director of Smart Growth America. "This announcement demonstrates the Administration's responsiveness to widespread concerns about urban sprawl and the demand for growth and investment."

The Administrator's remarks come two weeks after President Bush signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, when he said, "One of the best ways to arrest urban sprawl is to develop brownfields and make them productive pieces of land, where people can find work and employment. By one estimate, for every acre of redeveloped brownfields, we save four and a half acres of open space."

Smart Growth America is a national coalition of over 100 groups promoting a better way to grow; one that protects farmland and open space, revitalizes neighborhoods, keeps housing affordable and provides people with more transportation choices.