SEPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-168
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Job Training
and Development
Demonstration Pilot
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA has selected Carnegie Mellon University for a
Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilot. Carnegie Mellon University's
assessment pilot partners are the City of Pittsburgh
and Central City Borough. The City of Pittsburgh also
is the recipient of a Brownfields Cleanup Revolving
Loan Fund Pilot. The Job Training Pilot will focus on
distressed neighborhoods in the Pittsburgh/Allegheny
County Enterprise Community and from the former
coal-mining Central City Borough area. City of
Pittsburgh neighborhoods in the Enterprise Community
suffer from poverty rates as high as 41 percent and
family incomes range from 18-42 percent below
county-wide averages. In Central City Borough, 72
percent of families with children live below the poverty
level.
The Enterprise Community in the City of Pittsburgh
contains over 1,500 acres of brownfields. Many of
these sites have been cleared of buildings, but
remediation was never completed. Central City
Borough has anine-mile long linear brownfield pocked
with dozens of acres of abandoned plants and acid
mine drainage sites. Acid mine drainage pollution
impacts hundreds of miles of streams in the area. The
abundance of dredged river sedimentmanagedby the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has innovative reuse
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $100,000
Profile: The Pilot will train 50
participants in addressing the
complexities of brownfields and acid
mine drainage pollution, including
innovative uses of dredged river
materials. Students will be recruited
from low-income residents of the
City of Pittsburgh Enterprise
Community and Central City
Borough, which have been
economically depressed by
declinesinminingand manufacturing
activities.
Contacts:
Carnegie Mellon University
(412)268-7121
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 3
(215)814-3129
Visit the E PA Region 3 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/brownfld/hmpage1.htm
Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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potential in the reclamation of these brownfields.
However, atrained workforce is needed to take these
innovative applications to full-scale implementation.
A survey performed by the Southwestern Pennsylvania
Industrial Resource Center indicates that local
environmental companies will hire approximately 1,200
technicians in the next five years and 2,3 00 technicians
in the next 10 years.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
Carnegie Mellon University plans to train 50
participants, achieve a 60 percent placement rate, and
support career placement of graduates for one year
after the training is completed. Participants will be
recruited from among the low-income residents of
distressed communities in the City of Pittsburgh
Enterprise Zone and Central City Borough. The Pilot
training program will include courses in the areas of
environmental impacts ofbrownfields and abandoned
mine lands, 40-hour HAZWOPER, manufactured
soils and structural blocks from river dredge material,
constructed wetlands for acid mine drainage treatment,
inventory and assessment of acid mine drainage
brownfields, and alternative enhancement and
vegetation approaches for affected soils.
Carnegie Mellon University's training efforts will be
supported by organizations such as the University of
Pittsburgh, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, AMD &
Art, the Pennsylvania State Cooperative Extension
Service, and the County Conservation Districts. The
training program will include hands-on field
demonstrations of innovative assessment and cleanup
technologies.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting outreach to recruit low-income residents
of distressed communities in the City of Pittsburgh
Enterprise Community and in Central City Borough;
• Conducting brownfieldstechnician training, including
courses in the use of innovative assessment and
cleanup technologies; and
• Supporting career placement of students for one
year after the job training is completed.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Job Training and Development Demonstration Pilot
May2000
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
EPA500-F-00-168
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