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HAWAII
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The
Anahola Homesteaders Council, with help from a U.S. EPA grant, plans to
develop a community plan to encourage residents to work collaboratively
to fix its environmental problems. |
Hawaii Brownfields Get Grants
The U.S. EPA awarded four organizations in Hawaii nearly $1 million to address brownfields on Oahu and Kauai — $796,334 for brownfield redevelopment and $196,877 for a brownfield job training program.
The brownfield redevelopment grants went to the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism ($400,000), the County of Kauai ($200,000) and the Anahola Homesteaders Council ($196,344).
The grants will be used to inventory potential brownfield sites, perform environmental site assessments and do community outreach and involvement activities.
The Anahola Homesteaders Council on Kauai will use their grant for cleanup of hazardous substances on 20 acres of former sugar cane land contaminated with pesticides and herbicides containing arsenic and mercuric compounds.
The community plans to redevelop the site into a multi-use town center, with a charter school and affordable housing for elderly residents once cleanup is completed.
The Anahola group also received a separate $100,000 grant from the EPA’s Environmental Justice Program to focus on former agricultural land in Anahola, Kauai, on Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. The site is currently littered with illegally disposed items such as automobiles, tires, appliances, batteries and other household goods.
The Honolulu Community College’s job training grant will train 60 students, aim to achieve a 75 percent job placement rate and track students for one year. The 240-hour training program will include hazardous materials handling, environmental health and safety, and risks posed by hazardous waste sites.
Course work will be followed by 120 hours of on-the-job training supervised
by potential employers. Finally, the students will be placed in environmental
jobs through the school’s partnerships with environmental, construction
and other industries.