mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time , and for his leadership on this issue as well as many others . 
it is good to be in the house doing something that is pretty basic . 
i support this legislation . 
i would note that if you vote `` no , '' you are actually voting to increase taxes because this is legislation simply extending current law that expires in the coming year . 
i also want to point out a provision that is very , very important in districts like mine , in areas like the chicago suburban area , because it is legislation that addresses the need to revitalize old urban areas , to recycle , and to use old abandoned industrial sites . 
that is the brownfields provision . 
i have worked over a number of years with chairman thomas and others , and we have worked in a bipartisan way , to find ways to encourage reinvestment in old abandoned industrial sites . 
you will find , in many cases , that these old industrial sites have environmental contamination , and because of that investors would much rather go out and buy a cornfield , a greenfield site , and create an industrial park , which consumes five to six times as much land , creates urban sprawl , and also costs the taxpayers more because you have to replace the water and the sewer and the infrastructure and the roads . 
well , in the coming year , the environmental cleanup provision for brownfields , that tax incentive , expires . 
so we extend that . 
but we also do something more , which i think is very , very important . 
and , really , the recent occurrence of katrina highlights it , because we have often heard about the petroleum contamination in the new orleans area and the need for cleanup . 
well , if you think of your own communities and the south suburbs of chicago and rural areas that i represent , we can always think of that gas station on a corner that has been closed for 20 years and which sat abandoned , with no one buying it . 
and if you ask the local real estate people or the local economic development people why , they say , well , they had some petroleum contamination there . 
if somebody buys it , they have to pick up the cost . 
it does not qualify for the lust program . 
so the investor who purchases that old abandoned gas station has to pick up the cost . 
with this legislation , we expand the brownfields tax incentive to include petroleum . 
so whether it is oil factories , gas stations , transportation hubs , or rail yards , we give that opportunity to recycle , renew , and revitalize . 
