Chattanooga gets $200,000 grant from EPA for environmental training
Chattanooga, along with 12 other communities across the country, will receive a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to educate workers about safe and proper environmental cleanup. The training will include environmental assessment procedures and cleanup practices, focusing on the reclamation and redevelopment of brownfield areas—areas that are contaminated with toxic substances like asbestos, PCBs and other chemicals. With the $200,000 grant, the city plans to train 30 students and place at least 18 of them as environmental technicians. The city will track their progress for one year.
In the last decade, the EPA has awarded in excess of $25 million to brownfield job training programs. The EPA says there are approximately 450,000 abandoned and contaminated sites that are designated as brownfields. Training programs like that planned in Chattanooga help facilitate cleanup of these sites and redevelopment of the properties for valuable uses.
For the full story, go to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
