This funding opportunity is made available through EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR). This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities, including nonprofit organizations, to deliver Brownfields Job Training programs that recruit, train, and retain a local, skilled workforce by prioritizing unemployed and under-employed residents to obtain the skills and credentials needed for pathways into full-time employment in various aspects of hazardous and solid waste management and within the larger environmental field, including sustainable cleanup and reuse, and chemical safety. This program is being funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58 (the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law”).
Brownfields Job Training Grants help residents take advantage of jobs across a spectrum of brownfield related activities, including the assessment, cleanup, remediation, and planning/site preparation for the revitalization of brownfields. This can involve the assessment and cleanup of solid and hazardous waste; chemical risk management; stormwater management relating to site cleanup; planning and site preparation for low impact development activities; planning and site preparation for green infrastructure installation and maintenance; and vulnerability assessment and contamination mitigation planning.
Entities may not apply for more than one FY24 Brownfields Job Training Grant even if proposing to serve different target areas. Applicants that exceed the number applications allowable will be contacted, prior to review of any of the applications by EPA, to determine which application(s) the applicant will withdraw from the competition. Interested applicants from within Duke should contact fundopps@duke.edu as early as possible.
Deadline: Aug. 2, 2023
In addition to brownfields assessment and cleanup training, as well as training in the areas of community involvement and site preparation for sustainability and equitable reuse and development, applicants may choose to deliver a variety of other brownfields related environmental training activities as listed in the examples below. Applicants should tailor curricula to the labor market needs of their targeted community in line with the eligible uses articulated below.
• Training in “green remediation” technologies, such as phytoremediation, bioremediation, or soil amendments; advanced sampling instrument operator training; or training in the reuse of biosolids and other industry residuals.
• Training in stormwater management; green infrastructure installation, management, and maintenance; or low impact development (LID) training for the purpose of preparing a brownfield site for sustainable reuse.
• Emergency planning, preparedness, and response training for emergencies leading to contamination on brownfields sites, such as organizing and implementing exercises; outreach to the public; spill response and cleanup, including industrial and environmental (e.g., oil spills, natural disasters, etc.); first responder, disaster site worker certification, and National Incident Management System (NIMS) training; Disaster Recovery.
• Enhanced environmental health and safety training related to site remediation, such as promoting chemical (substance, mixture, or article) safety awareness and stewardship; safe work practices (including an overview of the content of Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) (formerly material safety datasheets (MSDS)), information on exposure guideline limits (Occupational Exposure Limits and Recommended Exposure Limits), information contained within the NIOSH pocket guide to chemical hazards, or the OSHA/EPA Occupational Chemical Database); isolation of work areas; safe storage and handling of chemicals; prevention of spills; and training in an overview of any existing chemicalspecific worker training and certification programs, including but not limited to: lead abatement; lead renovation, repair, and painting (RRP); asbestos; diisocyanates (autorefinishing and spray polyurethane foam); pesticide worker protection standards; PFCs; PBDEs/HBCD; and others.
• Energy efficiency, and alternative energy technologies, such as training in retrofitting technologies, in order to prepare brownfield sites for renewable energy installation for reusing and redeveloping former brownfield sites.
. Applicants may apply for up to $500,000 of EPA funds.
