/EINPresswire.com/ -- WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - February 15, 2017) - New Bedford (MA) Mayor Jonathan Mitchell will testify before the House Subcommittee on Environment tomorrow, Thursday, February 16 at 10 a.m. ET during a hearing titled "Modernizing Environmental Laws: Challenges and Opportunities for Expanding Infrastructure and Promoting Development and Manufacturing."

Mayor Mitchell, who serves as Chair of the Energy Committee for The U.S. Conference of Mayors, will urge Congress to reauthorize and modernize the Brownfields Law as a means of increasing economic development and job creation in communities throughout the nation.

Mayor Mitchell will assert, "If Congress is interested in giving economic development tools to communities, especially those that are economically struggling, reauthorizing and modernizing the Brownfields Law should be a cornerstone in that effort."

Mayor Mitchell's community of New Bedford has pursued renewable energy as one creative solution to the redevelopment of brownfield and Superfund sites, and in the process, turned environmental liabilities into economic assets for the community.

WHAT: New Bedford (MA) Mayor Mitchell to Testify on Brownfields Redevelopment in Cities

WHEN: Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. ET

WHERE: 2123 Rayburn House Office Building | Washington, D.C. 20515

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.