WASHINGTON -The White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers
today announced a landmark federal framework to speed the cleanup
of and redevelopment of shuttered auto facilities resulting from
the GM bankruptcy.

The framework will invest more than $800
million to put facilities back into productive use, creating jobs
and economic growth in communities across the country. When fully
implemented, it will represent the largest environmental and
economic development effort for former manufacturing sites in our
nation’s history. With a federal framework in hand, the United
States plans on discussing the framework with the states and the
debtor to work to finalize a plan for the use of these funds.

Dr. Edward Montgomery, Executive Director of the White House
Council on Automotive Communities and Workers said, “Throughout my
travel over the last year, I have heard many times that the
redevelopment of shuttered auto facilities represents one of the
largest economic development challenges our auto communities
face.  The new framework announced today embodies the Obama
Administration’s commitment to cleaning up plants and other
properties left behind by GM and positioning them again for
productive use.”

The White House’s chief economic adviser, Larry
Summers, said the federal government could get “most, if not
all” of the money it invested in General Motors back once the
automaker offers shares to the public later this year.

The announcement of a new federal framework was made at a
conference on auto communities hosted by the White House Council,
the U.S. Department of Labor, the Brookings Institution
Metropolitan Policy Program, and the Funders’ Network for Smart
Growth and Livable Communities.

The framework would place more than $800 million of
federal funding, which had been provided for the wind-down of the
Old GM, in an Environmental Response Trust. 

The framework would allocate $536 million for the cleanup of the
properties and approximately $300 million that will assist the
states and communities in dealing with the challenges these
properties present, including property taxes, demolition costs,
plant security costs and other expenses.  These funds will be
allocated among over 90 sites located in 14 states across the
country and include additional pooled funding that will be
available to all sites owned by Old GM  as needed to cover
unforeseen costs.

This proposed framework is the result of a rigorous and
concerted effort by the federal government, with input from state
partners, to determine the likely cost of remediating contamination
at the properties involved.  Based on current information,
these funds should be sufficient to clean up 90 sites owned by Old
GM and undertake targeted cleanup at certain additional sites where
Old GM bears unique responsibilities for environmental
contamination.

By providing for the necessary cleanup up front, communities
will be given a chance to see much quicker reuse and redevelopment
than would otherwise be the case.  It is unique in a
bankruptcy for a cleanup effort this large and complex, spanning
across multiple states, to be conducted simultaneously with
redevelopment efforts.  This framework has significant
momentum to become effective by the end of the year, which would be
unprecedented given the size and complexity of the
bankruptcy.  Once final, this framework will result in the
largest Trust ever created for the cleanup of debtor-owned
property.

“Right now cities and towns across the country are struggling to
rebuild economies and protect families at the same time they’re
facing a legacy of environmental pollution.  We are making a
significant investment in better health, a cleaner environment, and
a brighter future in communities that need our support,” said EPA
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. 

“EPA is proud to be working with our federal, state and local
partners in an effort to strengthen former auto communities and
ensure that they have solid foundations for prosperity. 
Supporting the restoration of polluted sites not only protects
human health and the environment, it also fosters new economic
possibilities, makes these communities more competitive and opens
pathways to long-term success.”

“As the co-chair of the White House Council on Automotive
Communities and Workers, I am proud of the accomplishments of the
Labor Department and our fellow Council departments over the last
year. The framework announced today is a truly meaningful step in
our collective charge to ensure that workers and families in auto
communities from coast to coast have the opportunity to take part
in my mission of providing good jobs for everyone,” said U.S.
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis.

In the coming days and weeks, the United States will continue
the process of reaching out to the affected states and the debtor
to talk about turning this framework into a settlement and plan to
present the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern
District of New York for approval. 

In conjunction with the conference and the framework, the White
House Council on Automotive Communities and workers also released
its first Annual Report.  To read the full report, click href=”http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/council_on_auto_communities_report.PDF”
target=”_blank”>HERE.