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| Brownfields Weekly |
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January 3, 2002 THIS WEEK:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the latest on the passage of the Congressional Brownfields Bill, visit our Items of Interest page: Brownfields Bill Passes Congress Visit the Brownfields.com
Conferences page for the latest industry events: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brownfields Communities Receive $2 Million for Job Training SILVER SPRING, Maryland - On the heels of comprehensive new brownfields legislation passed by Congress, EPA Administrator Whitman announced $2 million in grants to provide environmental job training at brownfields sites in nine states and Washington, D.C. Whitman made the announcement during a visit to the Alice Hamilton Occupational Health Center. During the visit the Administrator observed students in the last session of Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training. "Job training programs such as this one provide local residents with the skills they need to participate in the cleanup of brownfields in their own communities - and to pursue careers in the environmental field," Administrator Whitman told students. Including the new grant recipients in the District of Columbia and the states of Ohio, Rhode Island, Montana, Iowa, Indiana, Delaware, South Carolina, Washington and New York, brownfields job training program efforts are now active in 23 states and Puerto Rico. The job training grants, totaling $200,000 each, are used to teach environmental-cleanup job skills to individuals living in low-income areas in the vicinity of brownfields sites. The majority of participants who successfully complete the training program go on to pursue careers with environmental firms and organizations. Since the program started in 1998, 566 trainees, the majority of whom are minority, have been hired at an average hourly entry-level wage of $12.12. According to an independent study conducted by the Council for Urban Economic Development, the revitalization of brownfields has created over 22,000 permanent jobs and leveraged $2.48 in private investment for every dollar spent by federal, state or local governments. A recent study by George Washington University found that for every acre of brownfields redeveloped, 4.5 acres of undeveloped land is saved.
$340 Million Pledged to Clean Up Landfill LOS ANGELES, California (ENS) - A $340 million settlement between 161 companies and the state of California will fund the final cleanup of the 190 acre Operating Industries Inc. landfill in Monterey Park in Los Angeles County, California. The settlement is the eighth since 1986 aimed at cleaning up the Superfund listed site. To date, settlements between all involved parties have totaled more than $600 million. The Operating Industries, Inc. landfill site is located approximately 10 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The Pomona Freeway divides the 190-acre site into two parcels. The landfill operated from 1948 to 1984 and accepted industrial and municipal wastes. More than 12 years of non-stop construction have nearly contained the contamination, the EPA says. When completed, the cleanup will protect human health and the environment from the release and migration of contaminants from the landfill. A leachate treatment system, landfill gas collection system and a landfill cover have been constructed. Additional systems will treat landfill liquids collected from extraction wells on site. The United States has entered into seven prior consent decrees and the EPA has issued two unilateral orders for site cleanup. This settlement reserves some remaining items of clean up work for which the EPA expects to issue orders to responsible parties who have yet to contribute to the cleanup. "This exceptional settlement will provide the necessary money and work commitments to assure the full implementation of the EPA remedy for the Operating Industries Site," said acting assistant attorney general John Cruden. "This is a tribute to the hard work of all of the parties involved, and the willingness of the companies to accept responsibility and assure the protection of human health and the environment."
Register Now for the 2002 RCRA National Meeting For the first time, the 2002 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) National Meeting will be fully open to the general public. As in previous years, the meeting will be open to staff and management from EPA, state regulatory agencies and tribes. The theme of this year's meeting is "Partnerships for Cleaner Communities." Speakers internal and external to EPA will interact with attendees in a variety of session formats, including plenaries, topic-specific tracks, break-outs and workshops. Topics will include corrective action, Brownfields, permitting, municipal solid waste, non-hazardous industrial and special waste, waste minimization, and federal, state and Tribal Programs. Exhibits of various environmental program initiatives will be on site. Pre-registration is required for meeting attendance. All meeting attendees will be required to present photo identification on site and to wear badges issued by EPA for admittance to meeting sessions. For further information and
to pre-register, please visit the meeting web site:
Grant Awarded to Develop Marketable Energy from NC Landfills WASHINGTON, D.C. - As part of a continuing effort to support President Bush's energy plan, EPA has awarded $50,000 to the Blue Ridge Resource Conservation and Development Council of Sugar Grove, N.C., to develop marketable energy from gas at seven small landfills in the state. Besides the economic benefits, this grant will reduce global warming gases and reward local communities with cleaner air and better-managed and safer landfills. Landfill gas can be captured and sold as an energy source for a number of purposes, the most common being generation of electricity at electric utilities. Other uses include generating heat and electricity in industrial facilities; substituting for or supplementing natural gas; and producing compressed natural gas for auto fuel. Landfill gas is about half methane and half carbon dioxide, with small amounts of other organic compounds. The methane portion is what makes the gas saleable. Methane, virtually identical to natural gas, contributes 18 percent of all global warming emissions, and is about 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (the primary greenhouse gas) in trapping heat in the earth's atmosphere. Landfills are the largest human-generated source of methane in the country, contributing about 37 percent of all emissions. Methane also contributes to the formation of smog and poses an explosion hazard if uncontrolled. This project will demonstrate different clean technologies for utilizing landfill gas; establish a research center dedicated to the study of landfill gas and other renewable resources; and provide assistance to seven landfill sites in western North Carolina. Collectively, these small landfills, more than 900 nationwide, emit enough landfill gas to generate more than 1100 megawatts of power, enough to heat more than 700,000 homes per year. Also, by capturing and selling this amount of gas, nearly 10 million tons of global warming gases are prevented from entering the atmosphere, an action equivalent to removing almost 10 million cars from America's roads each year. Please visit the link below
for more information on EPA's national Landfill Methane Outreach Program:
Job Training Pilot Gives the Disadvantaged an Advantage EPA's Job Training Pilot program targets low-income and otherwise disadvantaged residents, with an emphasis on individuals receiving welfare and participating in federal, state, and/or local Welfare-to-Work programs. Young Community Developers, Inc., in San Francisco, California, was selected for a Job Training Pilot in 1999 and received a $179,715 two-year grant. The Young Community Developers Pilot targets the Bayview Hunters Point community of San Francisco, home to 25,000 residents and surrounded by approximately 120 brownfields sites. To encourage attendance, enhance focus, and foster community pride and self-worth, this Job Training Pilot uses several unique training methods. One method is an intensive pre-screening orientation program, with a strict regimen in which potential trainees must participate in calisthenics in the early morning hours. Trainees are also required to engage in activities such as neighborhood cleanup days and community barbeques. All of the 24 graduates of the first 288-hour environmental technician training cycle are employed and earning an average of $20 per hour. Two of the employed graduates are working with phytoremediation, an innovative cleanup technology, at a site targeted by the San Francisco Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The Pilot has successfully secured partnerships with numerous groups, such as universities and colleges, unions, and private companies and has leveraged approximately $173,000 in funds and resources. With these partnerships and leveraged resources additional services have been made available, including instructor training, participant transportation services, career counseling services, and child care. |