Brownfields Bill Upheld

House Democrats stalled a bill to clean up abandoned industrial waste sites recently because it lacked assurances that jobs to be created would be eligible for high wages under a federal labor law.

The Bush administration and most in Congress back the brownfields legislation to provide $200 million a year for the cleanup of more than 500,000 sites. The legislation also would encourage developers to build on sites by strengthening protections from lawsuits over contamination.