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St. Louis Community College to Provide Green Job Training through EPA Brownfields Grants

Release Date: 08/04/2009
Contact Information: Belinda Young, 913-551-7463, young.belinda@epa.gov

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Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., Aug. 4, 2009) - EPA has selected St. Louis Community College, St. Louis, Mo., to receive $500,000 in grant funding to help train community members for jobs assessing and cleaning up brownfields sites. Funding for these grants is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Acting Regional Administrator William Rice said, “The Brownfields Job Training Program ensures recruitment of individuals from disadvantaged communities, and allows local residents to qualify for green jobs developed as a result of Brownfields efforts.”

St. Louis Community College plans to train 120 students, graduate 102 students, and place at least 77 students in environmental technician and other green jobs. The training program will consist of 240 hours of technical training in hazardous materials and remediation techniques. Graduates will receive training certifications in hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10-hour health and safety, mold remediation, weatherization, ecosystem restoration, and lead and asbestos abatement. The college will target unemployed and under-employed residents of the St. Louis metropolitan area, with a focus on the Regional Empowerment Zone, where the unemployment rate is greater than 24 percent.

Since 1998, EPA has awarded more than $25 million in brownfields job training funds. More than 5,000 people have completed EPA-funded training programs, with more than 3,250 obtaining employment in environmental fields, earning an average wage of $13.81 per hour. EPA established the Brownfields Job Training Program to help residents take advantage of jobs created by the assessment, cleanup and sustainable reuse of brownfields sites and to ensure that the economic benefits derived from brownfields redevelopment remain in the affected communities.

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Brownfields Law) was passed. The Brownfields Law expanded the definition of what is considered a brownfield, so communities may now focus on mine-scarred lands or sites contaminated by petroleum or the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs. EPA’s Brownfields Program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at
http://www.recovery.gov.