www.epa.gov
MAKING A iOIFPSISBKIiS IN THE COMMUNITY:
Cycle II of the Superfund Job Training Initiative in Idaho's Silver Valley
INTRODUCTION
The Coeur d'Alene Basin Superfund Job Training Initiative
(SuperJTI) Cycle II is an environmental remediation job readiness
program that provided career development opportunities for 17
trainees living nearthe Coeur d'Alene Basin Superfund site. Through
a partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and North Idaho College, McGillivray Environmental, North
Wind Construction Services and TerraGraphics Environmental
Engineering, Coeur d'Alene Basin SuperJTI Cycle II provided
local job seekers with new skills and work experience linked to the
cleanup of the Coeur d'Alene Basin site. EPA's goal is to help the
community create job opportunities and partnerships that remain in
place for the long term.
CANDIDATE OUTREACH, RECRUITMENT
AND SCREENING: MARCH-APRIL 2013
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Lower Bas|n 'Portion.
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Upper Basin Portion
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Coeur d'Alene Basin Superfund Site
Coeur d'Alene Basin Cycle II SuperJTI staff and the project's community liaison Maureen "Rene" Gilbert reached out to the community,
sending out flyers and hosting orientation sessions to publicize the program and attract interested candidates. Area organizations and two
local newspapers, The Spokesman Review and The Shoshone News Press, also advertised the program. In April 2013, over 80 people
came to the program's five orientation sessions. Following these sessions, 76 people successfully completed a preliminary testing stage.
Thirty-five people participated in program tryouts.
Program tryouts included leadership, team building and role-playing activities, a physical fitness evaluation, and observation by a team of
evaluators from the project's partners. Fourteen of the 15 trainees selected during tryouts went on to complete the program.
SITE HISTORY
The Coeur d'Alene Basin Superfund site (also known as the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex) is located in Northern
Idaho's Coeur d'Alene River Basin. EPA placed the site on the Superfund program's National Priorities
List in 1983. The Coeur d'Alene Basin is one of the largest former mining areas in the world.
Beginning in the late 1880s, mining activities in the basin contributed an estimated 100
million tons of mine waste to the river system. Many area communities were built on
mine wastes. Until as late as 1968, tailings were deposited directly into the river. Over
time, these wastes have spread throughout more than 160 miles of the Coeur d'Alene
and Spokane rivers as well as area lakes and floodplains.
Contaminants from mining operations in the Silver Valley spread harmful heavy
metals down the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and across its floodplains.
Working with community members, local, state, tribal and federal agencies, and local
organizations, EPA developed a plan to clean up residential and recreational areas.
Cleanup is now underway. Project goals include reducing heavy metals, improving
fisheries, reducing downstream migration of contaminated sediments and providing
safe feeding habitat for waterfowl.
I U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
I Superfund Redevelopment Initiative
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TRAINING: APRIL - MAY 2013
The Coeur d'Alene Basin SuperJTI training program took place
over two-and-a-half weeks. It included:
Pre-Employment Training: Trainees completed courses in
environmental justice, interpersonal communication, cultural
competence and effective work habits. EPA contractor Skeo
Solutions provided the training.
Technical Training: Trainees completed the 40-hour Hazardous
Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER),
CPR and first aid, work zone flagging, and field reporting
courses provided by North Idaho College. Trainees also
completed a sampling course created for and provided to the
program at no cost by site contractor CH2M Hill.
Upon completion of the program, trainees possess the
marketable skills needed to begin a successful career in
environmental remediation and become valuable members of
the workforce in their communities.
Coeur d'Alene Basin SuperJTI is one of many SuperJTI
projects nationwide that are making a difference for
unemployed and underemployed citizens living in
communities affected by Superfund sites.
COEUR D'ALENE BASIN CYCLE II
SUPERJTI TRAINEES:
Live in areas affected by the Coeur d'Alene Basin
Superfund site. Twelve of the fourteen trainees
(86 percent) live in communities affected by the
Superfund site.
Include younger and older populations. Eight
trainees are in their 20s and 30s, while six trainees
are in their 40s and 50s.
JOB PLACEMENT AND FOLLOW UP:
JUNE 2013 — NOVEMBER 2013
After graduation, trainees interviewed with site subcontractors,
including McGillivray Environmental, North Wind Construction
Services and Terragraphics Environmental Engineering, for
available site cleanup positions. During the summer and fall
of 2013, six graduates accepted site-related cleanup positions.
Another four graduates took other jobs in the area. Remaining
graduates are interviewing with site subcontractors, pending
the award of new remediation contracts.
Graduation for the program's 14 trainees took place
at Memorial Hall in Kellogg, Idaho, in May 2013. EPA
Region 10 Environmental Cleanup Program Director Rick
Albright handed out certificates to the graduates during
the ceremony. The program also included remarks from
project partners as well as the graduates.
Coeur d'Alene Basin SuperJTI Cycle IPs community liaison
Rene Gilbert followed up with the graduates and their
supervisors for six months after the graduates started work.
During this time, graduates could change positions but were
encouraged to remain employed, either with one of the site
subcontractors or another employer.
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SUPERJTI COMMUNITY PROFILES: Making a Difference
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Rene was hired by SuperJTI as the community partner for the 2012 and 2013 SuperJTI
^ programs in the Coeur d'Alene Basin. As a local resident active in the community, and
with a background in human relations, Rene was a perfect fit for the program. After
beginning work with SuperJTI, Rene focused on promoting the program in the
community. She found the best outreach strategy was working closely with other
community members, organizations and local media to support the recruitment
of potential trainees. "Asking people to support the project and aligning myself
with progressive people in the community helped us be successful," she noted.
Now that the program has finished, Rene continues to keep in touch with the
graduates. Many continue to work in the area in environmental cleanup as well as
related fields. "The training changes people's lives," she said. "You see them come
in to the program and leave a better person." Rene also reflected on the satisfaction
she felt working with SuperJTI and providing a service to her community. "I felt
very proud of the graduates of both training classes," she said. "I felt that we really did
something as a community that was meaningful, that had substance."
After years of long-haul trucking, construction and mining work, Dave Medrano
was looking to work closer to home in the Silver Valley. He found the training
gave him a new perspective on the value of EPA's work and the cleanup of A
the Coeur d'Alene Basin. "And we worked hard," he noted. "By the time fl
we reached graduation, I felt like we had really accomplished something."
Right after graduation, cleanup contractor McGillivray Environmental
offered Dave a permanent position as a truck driver; project work to date
has included highway and infrastructure projects as well as site cleanup.
"SuperJTI opened doors," he said. "Without the training, there is no way
I would have had such opportunities. Going through the training, making
connections, meeting with senior management at the companies doing the
cleanup - it has been vitally important for me."
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A miner for 39 years, Dean A. Gilson was unemployed and looking for new career
artunities. "Being 60 years old is a liability in the mining industry," he noted.
\nd mining has been dwindling in the Silver Valley for a long time." When
he first heard about the SuperJTI program, he knew he wanted to be part of
it. "Taking on the training and completing it was a big deal," he said. "I had
been thinking I should go back to school for a long time. The training was
a real morale booster."
• H
Following graduation, Dean completed a short-term project with the
Idaho Panhandle Health District before signing on as a driver at a local
car dealership. While his current position is not in the environmental
remediation field, Dean credits the SuperJTI program with opening doors
for him. "The training gave me a new outlook on interviews, building a
resume and how to market myself," he said. "The program helped me get out
._iere and get noticed."
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What is the SuperJTI Program?
The Superfund Job Training Initiative, or SuperJTI, supports job readiness programs in
communities affected by nearby Superfund sites and encourages the employment of
trainees at local site cleanups. The SuperJTI program combines extensive classroom
instruction with hands-on exercises for each participant. Upon completion of the
program, each participant possesses the marketable skills required to become a valuable
member of the community's workforce. EPA offers SuperJTI training at no cost to trainins
participants.
For more information, please visit: www.epa.gov/superfund/community/sfjti
Or contact SuperJTI's National Program Managers:
Melissa Friedland
EPA Regions 1-5
(703) 603-8864
friedland.melissa@epa.gov
Viola Cooper
EPA Regions 6-10
(415) 972-3243
cooper.viola@epa.gov
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (5204P)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460
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