Cleaning up the broken brownfield bill may be just as important to the State of New York as cleaning up brownfields themselves is.

Brownfields, or polluted lands, are often left behind after chemical spills. They are generally big enough to prevent the land from being habitable, but not so disastrous that they require federal Superfund money to clean up.

To give developers an incentive to clean up the land and put it to good use, the legislature passed a law giving major tax credits (between 10 and 22 percent) for the cost of cleaning the brownfield while not limiting what was to be built on them.

The law, unfortunately, has been exploited by developers looking for gigantic tax breaks when building expensive high-risers. A Times-Union article cited several egregious violations of the intent of the law.

Among them, the article cites "real estate mogul Louis Cappelli, popularly known as the Donald Trump of Westchester County, for a $250 million hotel, condominium and office project in White Plains. ... Cappelli's project qualifies for the full 22 percent tax credit, so he could get a credit worth $55 million -- or more."

The NYLCV has made fixing this broken law a top priority for the legislature.

Click HERE to read more of NYLCV's brownfield coverage.