Albany Watch

   Like the environmental conservation commissioner and advocates who spoke out about New York’s brownfields program this week, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said he thinks the tax-credit program for cleaning polluted sites needs fixing. Lawmakers and the governor agreed this spring to place a three-month moratorium on applications to the program, which has given out millions of dollars worth of credits to a small group of large developers.

   The three months are up in mid-July, but the legislative session, during which the issue would need to be taken care of, ends a week from Monday.

   DiNapoli, who put out a report today, said the state faces a potential $3.1 billion tax-credit liability for brownfields cleanup and redevelopment, and it needs to “target these tax credits to make sure we get the right bang for all those bucks.” New York’s program has cleaned up far fewer sites than brownfields initiatives in other states, the report said.

   The state could provide additional incentives for economically distressed areas by awarding tax credits based on need, as demonstrated by a site’s location in a struggling region, he said. New York could reduce the fiscal impact on the state by allowing the credits to carry over into succeeding years or defer tax credits until after the project is done and producing tax revenue.

   Environmentalists and Environmental Commissioner Pete Grannis, who supports a proposal laid out by Gov. David Paterson, said cleanup and development costs should be treated separately to place more of an emphasis on remediation; tax-credit incentives should cover up to 75 percent of cleanup; and credits should be for up to 50 percent of development, but no more than $15 million.