EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002, as amended by the Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development Act of 2018, was passed to help states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize brownfield sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through five competitive grant programs: Multipurpose Grants, Assessment Grants, Revolving Loan Fund Grants, Cleanup Grants, and Brownfields Job Training Grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.
Brownfields Job Training Grant funds are provided to nonprofit organizations and other eligible entities to recruit and train unemployed and underemployed residents from communities affected by environmental pollution, economic disinvestment, and brownfields and place them in environmental jobs. Since the program was created in 1998, EPA has funded 352 job training grants totaling over $75 million through the Brownfields Job Training program. A total of 19,456 individuals have been trained and 14,560 individuals have been placed in full-time careers related to land remediation and environmental health and safety. The average starting wage for these jobs is more than $14 an hour. This equates to a cumulative placement rate of approximately 74 percent.
$200,000.00
EPA has selected the Laborers' Local 17 Training & Educational Fund for a Brownfields Job Training grant. The Laborers' Local 17 Training & Educational Fund plans to train 122 students and place at least 33 in environmental jobs. The training program includes 712 hours of instruction in 40-hour HAZWOPER, Confined Space Awareness, Permit-Required Confined Space, Asbestos Awareness, Lead Worker, Lead Awareness, NYS Asbestos Handler, Microbial Remediation, Confined Space Rescue, First Aid and CPR, Forklift, CDL B, Hazardous Waste Worker and Refresher, and CDL A. Students who complete the training will earn up to three state certifications and nine federal certifications. The Laborers' Local 17 Training & Educational Fund is targeting unemployed, underemployed, dislocated students and those that live in poverty, distressed communities, have little or no advanced education, and minorities that live in communities affected by environmental hazards. The target area is the entire Capital District/Mohawk and Hudson Valley region. Key partners include the Orange County Workforce Development Board, One Stops, Eastern NY Laborers Local 190, Laborers Local 157, Professional Abatement Contractors (PACNY), Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO), Habitat for Humanity, the Department of Social Services, DPW's, Orange County Partnership, SUNY Orange Community College, BOCES, Newburgh Enlarged City School District (NECSD), the City of Newburgh, United Way, the Workforce Development Institute, Best Resource Center, Working Solutions, Nubian Directions II, Inc., BRC, Workforce Development Board/Working Solutions Herkimer, Madison & Oneida Counties, Inc., LIUNA Local 190, 157, 754, and 235, the NYSDEP, Construction Contractors Association, the Capital Region Workforce Development Board, Holt Construction and Specialty Trades Contracting LLC.