Reuse of old, abandoned industrial sites, like those in Ambridge, remains a high federal priority, said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Stephen Johnson. But lack of funding continues to hamper such projects.

Mr. Johnson, speaking to a crowd of 100 at yesterday's "Brownfields in Our Neighborhoods 2001-2006: Stronger Than Steel" workshop in Ambridge, said the Bush administration has asked for additional funding to accelerate brownfield redevelopment, but has not received it from Congress because of "other funding issues pressing on the federal budget."

He said interest in brownfield redevelopment remains high in the EPA and the development community because it "makes sense to turn such eyesores into opportunities for economic growth."

U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods, said site preparation costs remain the main stumbling block to redevelopment of the old, abandoned industrial sites. But she said there are many examples of successful local brownfield development, including the Ambridge Regional Distribution and Manufacturing Center, where the workshop was held.

The three-day workshop, sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University's Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research, is a follow-up to a 2001 workshop that also focused on brownfield redevelopment in the Ambridge area, 12 miles down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh.

Deborah Lange, director of the Western Pennsylvania Brownfields Center and the Steinbrenner Institute, said brownfield problems are complex and require a broad, interdisciplinary approach.

Jared Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon, where the first brownfield research center was established in 1996, said such post-industrial sites present the "perfect problem" for university research.

"Our faculty is interested in solving real problems," he said, "and brownfields present an opportunity to make a difference in this region, and through that effort, nationally."

There are an estimated 450,000 brownfield industrial sites in the United States, according to the EPA. Cleanup and reinvestment in those types of sites increase local tax bases, promote job growth and protect the environment by targeting industrial, manufacturing and residential development on existing urban areas instead of sprawling out into rural "greenfields."

Most of the Ambridge brownfield that was the focus of the 2001 workshop, on a 60-acre site in the central part of the borough formerly occupied by several steel manufacturers, was recently purchased by Australian businessman Robert Moltoni.

Mr. Moltoni has spent $4 million of his own money to match a $3.5 million state grant to prepare the site for a mixed-use industrial, commercial and residential development that will cost up to $80 million.

"Unfortunately it's taken 2¹/₂ years to go through the planning and engineering," said William Sutton, executive vice president for Moltoni's development operation in Ambridge. "I think you'll see a big change in the next 2¹/₂ years. Be patient."