Concurrent Technologies Corporation, Greenville, South Carolina Receives EPA Brownfields Grant.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 21, 2001

On the heels of comprehensive new brownfields legislation passed by Congress, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman today announced that Concurrent Technologies Corporation of Greenville, South Carolina has been awarded a $200,000 Brownfields Job Training and Development grant.

Today's announcement also included grant recipients in the District of Columbia and the states of Ohio, Rhode Island, Montana, Iowa, Indiana, Delaware, Washington and New York. Brownfields job training program efforts are now active in 23 states and Puerto Rico.

With its grant, Concurrent Technologies Corporation plans to train 75 participants recruited from unemployed residents of the West Greenville/Reedy River Corridor. The Corridor is located just west of the downtown. The Corridor was once the textile center of the region. With the decline in the textile industry and development of the eastern part of the city, the Corridor fell into economic decline. The Corridor remains blighted by a number of abandoned and underused industrial properties, including several large textile facilities. The 260-hour pilot training program will consist of sampling, general industry standards for safety and health, heavy equipment operation and safety, and innovative technologies. Surveys of employers in the Greenville area indicate a strong demand for entry-level environmental technicians.

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 the 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.

Brownfields are abandoned, lightly contaminated properties often found in economically distressed areas, that can be returned to economically thriving community hubs. Since 1993, EPA has taken significant steps to clean up brownfields and return them to productive use, awarding more than $200 million in grants to cities, counties, tribes, states, non-profit organizations and educational institutions nationwide.

According to an independent study conducted by the Council for Urban Economic Development, the revitalization of brownfields has created more than 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.