A developer in Denver has created a popular new housing community on the site of the former Stapleton International Airport, property once contaminated with asbestos and de-icing chemicals. Such former industrial sites, known as brownfields, are now frequently being redeveloped for residential and commercial use across the country. More than 500 properties have been redeveloped with EPA incentives such as revolving loan funds and grants. Real estate developers have also been encouraged by a 2002 rule change that shifts liability for harm caused by any toxins remaining on such properties from the developers to those who actually contaminated the properties in the first place. As for the new communities’ residents, often they don’t even know that they are living on soil once contaminated with deadly substances.
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