Posted by Linda H on 10:03:00 PM
In Bridgeport, Connecticut, Youthbuild secured $606,850 to develop a program where participants will have the opportunity to earn the Pre‐Apprenticeship Certificate Training (PACT) of the Home Builder's Institute (HBI).
Participants who earn a PACT certificate have the skills necessary to secure entry‐level employment in their chosen trade (carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping, masonry, and facilities maintenance). Completion of the YouthBuild program will qualify participants to enter an apprenticeship in the Carpenter's Union Local 210 as a second year apprentice. This project, in addition to training more than 50 participants, will create five new project staff positions (Project Manager, Union Liaison, Adult Basic Education Instructor, and two Instructors).
Posted by Linda H on 9:58:00 PM
Thanks to a 30 mile service extension made possible by $35 million Recovery Act grant, the Amtrak Downeaster passenger rail service which currently operates between Boston, MA and Portland, ME will soon add service to two new cities, Freeport and Brunswick, ME.
The project will rehabilitate 30 miles of track, construct two new station platforms, upgrade and install new signals along the rail line, as well as improve the roadway‐rail grade crossings. The expanded passenger rail service will increase rail rider‐ ship, improve connectivity to the region, encourage tourism, and support economic development initiatives in the region. The “Downeaster” extension project broke ground on August 2, and is expected to employ 174 workers during construction. The new line has also spurred private investment in the region, including a new hotel under construction next to the Brunswick station, estimated to provide 150 construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs when completed.
Posted by Linda H on 9:50:00 PM
The Community Hospital Association secured $17 million in Recovery Act funding to expand McCook’s Community Hospital in Nebraska, to better serve the community needs.
This expansion has already created 50 jobs and is expected to create another 200 throughout the course of the construction. McCook’s Community Hospital is a Critical Access Hospital that provides acute inpatient and outpatient care, skilled nursing, emergency medicine, surgery, obstetrics and delivery, diagnostic facilities, pharmacy and rehabilitation services to eight counties in two states with approximately 30,000 residents.
These improvements to McCook’s Community Hospital are intended to improve patient care and safety. The Hospital offers two rural health clinics, an outpatient services center, home health and hospice programs, visiting specialists, sleep study and orthopedic clinics. With this project expansion, the hospital has recruited an additional General Surgeon who will join the facility in the summer of 2011. The hospital is also actively recruiting an Orthopedic Surgeon at this time ‐ currently all local orthopedic trauma patients have to be transferred or diverted, at least 70 miles, for treatment. An additional $15 million Rural Development community facility guaranteed loan was financed through Thayer County Bank of Hebron, Nebraska.
Posted by Linda H on 9:42:00 PM
NSF has awarded Rutgers University approximately $2 million to develop a new kind of scanning transmission electron microscope. Rutgers is collaborating with Nion, a small U.S. business, to develop an electron microscope that is optimized for investigation of materials that are important to energy related applications: more efficient batteries, conversion of light to electricity or to chemical reactions that produce hydrogen, and nanostructured materials that have new properties.
The research has supported four jobs for technical personnel at Rutgers and Nion Co. Commercialization of this technology will lead to many important new nano‐materials research applications, and produce valuable, high‐ technology jobs. It will also serve as a tool for educating the public about science and associated issues and help prepare the next generation of advanced materials scientists and engineers to make additional discoveries.
Posted by Linda H on 9:35:00 PM
In June, Dow Kokam received $161 million in a Recovery Act grant, which allowed them to break ground on a brand new advanced, large‐format battery production facility in Midland, Michigan. According to Dow Kokam, they have already supported more than 100 construction jobs, a figure which is expected to rise to 1,000 at the peak of construction.
Dow Kokam estimates that the 800,000 square‐foot facility will permanently employ nearly 800 workers when complete, and will be able to produce enough affordable lithium‐ion batteries to power 60,000 vehicles per year.
Dow Kokam and its project partners are matching the grant dollar for dollar.
Posted by Linda H on 9:31:00 PM
Under the Recovery Act Edward Byrne Memorial Grant Program, the City of Atlanta was able to address their near reality of having twenty‐three officer positions frozen as a result of its deficit. The Byrne grants provided $3.4 million to ensure that the positions were kept, which keeps officers employed while making the city of Atlanta a safer place.
Posted by Linda H on 9:27:00 PM
The City of Seattle is using a $30 million Recovery Act TIGER grant to solve the “Mercer Mess.” The Mercer Corridor Redevelopment project will alleviate congestion around the “Mercer Mess,” which has long been a major bottleneck hindering access to Seattle’s fastest growing neighborhood, South Lake Union.
The $160.7 million project, supported by $30 million in Recovery Act funds, will transform Mercer Street into a two‐way boulevard that links South Lake Union and the Seattle Center to the rest of the Puget Sound region. The project also provides significant bicycle, pedestrian and freight improvements, including 30 blocks of sidewalks, and will relieve severe traffic congestion for the 80,000 vehicles that use it every day. The city of Seattle estimates 1,200 direct construction jobs will be created by the project, which broke ground in September 2010 and will be completed in Summer 2012.
Posted by Linda H on 9:21:00 PM
The Streator Cayuga Ridge wind park in Livingston County, Illinois, received $170 million through the 1603 grants‐in‐lieu‐of‐tax‐credits program for renewable energy generation. This 150‐turbine project will generate 300 megawatts of clean, renewable energy, enough to power the approximate equivalent of over 86,000 typical American homes.
In addition, the project is creating jobs and helping to drive local growth. During construction, the wind park created over 300 jobs, while the increased tax revenue has allowed the local government to disburse economic development grants to local businesses. The project has also helped preserve jobs at component factories in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Dakota. When completed in March 2010, it was the largest wind project in Illinois.
Posted by Linda H on 9:18:00 PM
$39.4 million enables a team of Colorado small businesses to put nearly 40 people to work so far installing 35 acres of solar panels on the roofs and grounds of the Denver Federal Center. The seven megawatt solar Recovery Act project will provide clean, renewable energy to help power the offices of the nearly 6,000 people who work on the campus, saving thousands of dollars in energy costs and preventing thousands of tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere every year.
The Denver solar project is the largest single part of GSA’s effort to add 12 megawatts of solar power generation capacity at federal buildings nationwide – increasing solar power capacity by nearly 600% while generating enough renewable electricity to power 1,600 homes ‐‐ the equivalent of removing 2,500 cars from the road.
Posted by Linda H on 9:13:00 PM
Gorman Roofing, Inc. is a 30‐year old family‐owned and operated commercial roofing company. The company president, Raymond Gorman, is a service‐disabled veteran. Today, Gorman Roofing has 43 employees who are experienced roofing mechanics.
SBA introduced Mr. Gorman to Bank Rhode Island and the end result was that the company was able to obtain two SBA 90 percent‐guaranteed Patriot Express loans totaling $500,000. The company saved $10,425 in guarantee fees but more importantly the SBA assistance prevented the layoff of 25 employees. Loan proceeds were used to restructure existing debt and secure working capital to keep the company operating during the economic downturn. Mr. Gorman said that the SBA assistance saved his company.
Posted by Linda H on 9:08:00 PM
In Ocala, Florida the Economic Development Administration granted approximately $3.2 million through the Recovery Act for the construction of critical road, water, and wastewater line improvements to facilitate development of a new road segment of NW 44th Avenue.
In the short term, the recipient estimates 24 construction jobs will be created, but in the long run these industrial tracts will serve the Ocala community for decades. According to recipient estimates, three companies will create a total of 77 new jobs and invest $25 million in capital improvements within three years of the initial estimate and several industrial tracts will become more marketable for future development and employment growth.
Posted by Linda H on 9:01:00 PM
With the $51.6 million loan and a $49.5 million grant provided by the Recovery Act, the Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc. will provide broadband service in an area of western Kansas that is 99.5 percent unserved or underserved, and covers 26 communities and rural areas spanning over 4,600 square miles.
Such service will provide the infrastructure required for economic stability, education and healthcare. The company has hired eight of the projected 17 new employees and the three engineering firms and five contractors associated with the project have created a number of jobs.
Posted by Linda H on 8:57:00 PM
The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) issued Recovery Act Build America Bonds (BABs) in the amount of $2.8 billion to help finance the San Francisco‐Oakland Bay Bridge Seismic Retrofit project. This innovative financing tool gave the Toll Authority access to capital at a time when the traditional tax‐exempt market was severely impaired.
By issuing BABs, BATA estimates that it saved $351 million in present value terms over comparable tax‐ exempt debt. The savings have allowed the Authority to increase project capacity, improve infrastructure and create additional jobs. Currently, the Bay Bridge Project directly employs roughly 1,000 people on‐site and another 500 in support roles.
Posted by Linda H on 8:53:00 PM
Thanks in part to a $28 million Recovery Act grant, the Denver Regional Transportation District and the
Denver Union Station Project Authority are redeveloping the Denver Union Station site as a multimodal transportation center that will accommodate significant additional passenger rail service (FasTracks) now under construction.
The nearly half billion dollar project will transform Union Station into the hub of a seamless, interconnected transportation system which provides access to Amtrak, light rail, bus transit, parking and bicycle/pedestrian routes. When completed, the new station will reinvigorate downtown Denver and provide better access to housing, jobs, and commerce, and improve connections for business, education, recreation, tourism, and services. Recovery Act funding has already created more than 110 jobs on the project, which will be completed in 2014.
Posted by Linda H on 8:48:00 PM
The Emmet J. Bean Solar Lab in Indianapolis, Indiana is one of more than 50 Federal building rooftops across the country upon which GSA is installing solar arrays using Recovery Act funds. In addition to generating clean, renewable energy, GSA's Recovery Act projects are putting people to work in construction and emerging green industries.
Indianapolis construction company Shiel Sexton has put more than 60 people to work with GSA’s Recovery Act funds to convert the roof of the Emmet J. Bean Federal Center into a proving ground for solar power technology.
Workers are installing approximately 6,000 solar panels on the roof that will generate 1.8 mega‐ watts of renewable energy. A portion of the panels will serve as a “Solar Lab,” where the performance of four different types of solar technology will be researched by GSA and the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Lab to determine which solar panels work best in the Midwestern climate.
Posted by Linda H on 8:44:00 PM
The Recovery Act provided $6.6 million to an ongoing lead and arsenic cleanup project covering more than 300 residential yards in the Jacobsville Neighborhood of Evansville, Indiana and creating over 25 jobs.
Due to the Recovery Act funding, the proposed cleanup is now on an accelerated schedule. The site in this neighborhood is about 250 acres or 45 city blocks. Formerly used by several lead manufac‐ turing companies, this site now houses both residential and commercial properties.
Posted by Linda H on 8:40:00 PM
ECOtality in Phoenix, Arizona is helping bring the first electric‐drive vehicles and charging stations to cities around the country. The company received a $114 million dollar grant through the Recovery Act Transportation Electrification program.
ECOtality and its project partners are
matching the federal investment dollar‐for‐dollar. The award is putting 8,500 electric‐drive vehicles on the road, both Nissan Leafs and Chevy Volts, and more than 14,000 chargers in 16 cities around the country. ECOtality reported supporting 50 jobs last quarter, and because of the Recovery Act, the company expects to hire 75 more workers. ECOtality also estimates an additional 750 indirect jobs will be created over the course of the project.
Posted by Linda H on 8:36:00 PM
Goshen Medical Center (GMC) of Faison, North Carolina received $25 million in Recovery Act funding to increase its health center staffing. As a result of ARRA funding, GMC has provided care to 468 new patients and maintained care for recently uninsured current patients in Duplin County, a rural, economically depressed area. Additionally, 12 new jobs have been created to support these activities.
Also, GMC has conducted renovation and construction on four sites, resulting in expanded physical space to serve patients and has created additional construction jobs. GMC has also implemented an electronic health record system that will be used at all delivery sites.
Posted by Linda H on 8:30:00 PM
Compact Power, Inc. received a grant of over $150 million from the Department of Energy to build a battery cell manufacturing factory in Holland, Michigan. The factory will produce battery cells for the Chevy Volt, amongst other vehicles.
According to Compact, approximately 70 construction jobs have been created or saved and they are on‐track to hire 300 workers at the peak of construction. In addition, by 2013, Compact estimates 300 workers will be permanently employed at the facility.
Posted by Linda H on 8:23:00 PM
Abide International, a small business construction firm based in Sonoma, California, had a significant increase in business through the Recovery Act. Abide received 6 Recovery Act contracts from the Department of Transportation and the Department of the Interior for a total of $8.7 million in revenue.
Their jobs range from housing improvements to roadway construction, including a $4 million contract to repave six miles of Washington Road in California’s Nevada County. Abide has hired nine new employees due in part to the Recovery Act funded work, and plans to hire additional employees this year.
Posted by Linda H on 8:18:00 PM
The eight‐lane I‐695 bridge is one of Baltimore Maryland’s top bridge‐replacement priorities, and the Department of Transportation provided over $20 million in Recovery Act funds to replace the bridge. The project broke ground in May 2010, and will create an estimated 200 jobs during the peak of construction.
Built in 1961 and widened twice since then, the bridge carries an estimated 210,600 vehicles each day over Liberty Road. With no expected winter construction shutdowns, the new bridge will be completed in late summer 2012, and will accommodate the over 282,000 daily drivers estimated to use the route by 2030 (a 34 percent increase over current traffic).
Posted by Linda H on 8:14:00 PM
The Department of Justice provided approximately $8.3 million in grants to the Toledo Police force, saving jobs and increasing public safety in the area. The COPS grant funding was used to keep police officers in their job, helping the city re‐hire 31 officers. In addition, a Justice Assistance Grant put 36 laid ‐off officers back on the street.
Posted by Linda H on 7:55:00 PM
The massive rehabilitation of the 107‐year‐old Atlantic Avenue Viaduct in Brooklyn, New York will restore this much‐traveled and critical stretch of railroad infrastructure to a state of good repair. This $77 million project is one part of a larger $400 million Recovery Act transit grant which has supported about 110 direct jobs per quarter in 2010.
Rehabilitation includes replacing 86 steel spans as well as installing new employee walk‐ ways to improve safety. The Recovery Act funds are being used to make critical structural replacements along the 1.5 mile elevated structure which carries Long Island Railroad (LIRR) customers between Jamaica and Downtown Brooklyn. With more than 25,000 customers each week, and an additional 16,000 on the weekend, the route is a high‐traffic segment along the LIRR.
Posted by Linda H on 7:46:00 PM
In Cape May County, NJ the State Department of Transportation Commissioner Stephen Dilts said the $251 million project, $70 million of which is supported by Recovery Act funds, on the Route 52 causeway would bring 500 high‐paying jobs to Cape May County over the next three years.
‘This $251 million phase is an investment in southern New Jersey,’ Dilts said. George Harms Construction completed the first stage of construction six months early. About 40,000 motorists per day cross the causeway in the summer.
Posted by Linda H on 7:34:00 PM
In Houston, Texas $200 million was awarded to CenterPoint Energy to accelerate the completion of its current smart meter system by the end of 2012 and install the first phase of its grid hardening and automation called the Intelligent Grid “IG”.
The project in Houston, Texas includes two distinct but interdependent parts, including accelerating and completing the installation of 2.2 million smart meters and associated equipment that make up Center‐ Point Energy’s advanced metering system. These smart meters will enable residential and commercial customers to more effectively manage and control their electricity usage.
The project will also install distribution grid automation equipment and technology, allowing CenterPoint Energy to operate the distribution grid more efficiently, improve system reliability, and create the capability for the grid to “self‐heal.” Once completed, CenterPoint Energy's smart grid will serve as an example of an integrated, cyber‐secure, scalable, and replicable smart grid.
CenterPoint reported supporting nearly 300 jobs last quarter. CenterPoint estimates nearly 2,500 total direct and indirect jobs will be created as part of their smart grid project.
Posted by Linda H on 7:30:00 PM
Johnson Controls won a $299 million grant to build a battery manufacturing facility in Holland, Michigan.
Johnson Controls is
matching the investment dollar‐for‐dollar, and will be creating new high‐tech jobs in the automotive industry. The project is already bringing jobs to Holland ‐ Johnson Controls has created or saved at least 100 jobs so far, and expects to create 500 permanent positions when the project is complete.
Before the Recovery Act grant, Johnson Controls had considered Asian locations for its first high‐volume advanced lithium‐ion battery factory. The Recovery Act allowed the company to build in Holland, hire local construction and manufacturing workers, and help create a domestic advanced battery industry.
Johnson Controls has already signed contracts with Ford and Azure dynamics, and plans to ship its first battery in September of 2010, only ten months after receiving their grant.
Posted by Linda H on 7:28:00 PM
Approximately $61 million in Recovery Act funds helped fund the 14‐mile Orange Line rail construction project that will connect Dallas, the thriving Las Colinas Urban Center (LCUC) in the nearby city of Irving, and ultimately Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
This large project has produced over 600 construction jobs with more than 80 contractors based in 14 states. The Orange Line has also generated more than $4 billion dollars in transit‐ oriented development within the corridor, including more than 10,000 new housing units, 18,000 new employees added more than 200 area businesses, and a $135 million Irving Convention Center set to open in 2011.
Posted by Linda H on 7:23:00 PM
In Wilmington, Delaware Masley Enterprises manufactures high‐tech gloves that provide protection for American soldiers without restricting their flexibility or movement. In 2009, Masley won a major contract to supply gloves for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Masley turned to the Small Business Administration for a $1.6 million Recovery Act 7(a) loan, which, thanks to the Recovery Act, carried a 90 percent government guarantee and saved Masley Enterprises $55,000 in fees ‐ crucial to the bank’s decision to approve the loan.
Between the Recovery Act loan and the Army contract, Masley was to rehire some employees who had been laid off during the economic downturn. Today, Masley Enterprises has annual sales of $2.9 million and manufactures its own products with 44 employees.
Posted by Linda H on 6:41:00 PM
Andy Harold served 10 years as a Navy helicopter pilot, then started working for a company that did helicopter training for the Department of Defense using multimedia. As he drew to the end of his contract with that company, Mr. Harold decided to fulfill an entrepreneurial dream and start A. Harold + Associates in Jacksonville, Florida .
To support this dream, Mr. Harold applied for and received two SBA Recovery loans from Regions Bank over the past year. First, in September 2009, he received a Patriot Express loan for $350,000 to help with general operations. Then, in February 2010, he received a 7(a) loan for $750,000. Because of the waived fees, he saved over $33,000 on these two Recovery loans, and he is hiring 10 new people.
Posted by Linda H on 5:25:00 PM
The NYC Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is using $175 million in Recovery Act funds to rehabilitate eight vehicular bridges, one pedestrian bridge and one parking field which provide com‐ muter access to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.
With over 120 workers currently on site, the project has provided a significant boost to the local economy. The bridges support pedestrian traffic, MTA bus routes and stations, drop off and pick up taxi service, and other passenger vehicle traffic. The rehabilitation of the St. George Ferry Ramps will restore and preserve the structural integrity of these bridges for another 25 years while completing the makeover of this vital transportation hub.
This hub provides a direct connection for 60,000 riders on a daily basis to and from Manhattan.
Posted by Linda H on 5:23:00 PM
The 150 megawatt Lost Creek Wind Farm, in DeKalb County, Missouri developed by St Louis based Wind Capital Group (WCG), received a $107 million 1603 grant‐in‐lieu‐of‐tax credit for renewable energy generation award in July of 2010.
The project created over 300 jobs on‐site while under construction. General Electric supplied 100 of its 1.5 megawatt turbines for the project and the transformers were manufactured by ABB in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Posted by Linda H on 5:14:00 PM
The Department of Energy has conditionally committed to provide a $400 million loan guarantee to Abound Solar Manufacturing, LLC to manufacture state‐of‐the‐art cadmium telluride thin‐film solar panels.
The project includes two facilities: the capacity expansion of an existing facility in Longmont, Colorado and the construction of a new facility in Tipton, Indiana. When fully operational, the company will produce millions of solar panels annually at a lower cost than some competing technologies due to the use of cutting‐edge solar manufacturing technologies. The company anticipates that the project will create approximately 2,000 jobs during construction and 1,500 permanent jobs.
Posted by Linda H on 5:10:00 PM
A $50 million Recovery Act 48c Advanced Energy Manufacturing Credit, along with $6 million in state incentives, is helping DuPont fund a $175 million expansion of its Circleville, Ohio plant as part of a multi ‐phase capacity expansion to manufacture Tedlar, a thin‐film solar application.
DuPont applied for the 48C tax credit in parallel with the work with the Ohio Department of Development. The prospect of combined federal and state incentives supported a decision for domestic U.S. manufacturing and the selection of the Circleville site. DuPont employs 1,300 people across Ohio with operations at 15 sites.
Posted by Linda H on 5:09:00 PM
The company A123 is using its $249 million Recovery Act award to build battery factories in Livonia, Romulus, and, Brownstown, Michigan. The factories will help America become a leader in battery manufacturing technology while also providing a critical link in the supply chain for other clean energy technologies and products.
The company, which received its award on December 3, 2009, has already reported the creation of 90 new jobs, and expects to hire over 3,000 people by 2012. A123 has signed contracts with Navistar and Fisker, and is actively working with several well‐known carmakers. The company plans to ship the first battery from its high‐volume production line in Livonia this September.
Posted by Linda H on 5:08:00 PM
Headquartered in Washington State, Itron, Inc. is a manufacturing and information integration company, as well as a leading technology provider to energy and water industries throughout the world. Itron received a $5.2 million 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit under the Recovery Act
that will help them re‐equip their West Union, South Carolina facility to produce an increased number of OpenWay CENTRON smart meters for smart grid projects around the country.
The company has reported significant growth recently with more than 200 new jobs coming as a direct result of the Recovery Act funding as well as the expanded demand created by the Recovery Act’s smart grid investments. Itron estimates that one year's production of the meters will be able to reduce electricity use by approximately 1.7 million megawatt hours per year.
Posted by Linda H on 4:56:00 PM
The Recovery Act is contributing $105 million through a Highway Infrastructure Investment Grant towards a $653 million project that will link Interstate 4 and the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway in Tampa, Florida.
Posted by Linda H on 4:51:00 PM
Brevini Wind of Munice, Indiana is a wind gear box manufacturer which, by combining over $12 million in Recovery Act tax credits with over $60 million in investments of private capital, is building a new plant in the small manufacturing town of Muncie in Central Indiana.
The company recently signed a $100 million agreement with WinWind, a Finnish manufacturer of wind power plants to supply main drives for Win Wind’s 3 MW Turbines. The main drive units are one of the most important, complex, and expensive components in wind turbines – and have largely been produced outside the United States at this point.
The plant, scheduled to be up and running by late 2010, is expected to employ 450 people building planetary gearboxes, which convert kinetic energy from wind turbines into electricity.
Posted by Linda H on 4:43:00 PM
On August 12, 2010 the new interchange at Crossroads Boulevard and Interstate 25 in Loveland, Colorado opened, addressing a significant regional transportation problem and providing benefits to the region’s residents – benefits that would likely have taken another 10‐20 years to materialize without this additional funding.
The $5.5 million project, which combined
$3 million in Recovery Act funds with funds from a metro district maintained by developer McWhinney and funding from local tax funds, features a large roundabout on either side of I‐25 and pedestrian walkways below the bridge, and is expected to handle about 24,000 vehicles per day. In the final quarter before completion, this project supported 22 employees.
Posted by Linda H on 4:39:00 PM
A New Highway Improves Commercial Access to Appalachia in Nelsonville, Ohio. The Ohio Department of Transportation is using $138 million in Recovery Act funding for the Nelsonville Bypass project, the largest infusion of Recovery Act funds Ohio has received for a single project.
The project has created nearly 300 jobs in Ohio since breaking ground in the fall of 2009. The new 8.5 mile, four‐lane highway will divert freight traffic away from local Nelsonville roads and allow the 620,000 trucks that travel this route every year to do so more quickly and efficiently. The new bypass, which is the final upgrade of the U.S. 33 corridor in southeast Ohio, will also provide much‐needed transportation infrastructure to support current and future commerce to Appalachia.
Posted by Linda H on 4:36:00 PM
As one of the busiest north‐south freeway corridors in Wisconsin, I‐94 extends from Milwaukee County south through Racine and Kenosha counties to the Illinois state line and traffic on certain sections is expected to increase by 38 percent in the next 25 years.
Thanks to $94 million in Recovery Act funding, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is widening – from six to eight lanes – a portion of a 35‐ mile section of I‐94 that runs south of the Mitchell Interchange in Milwaukee to the Illinois state line. The additional lanes also will improve inter‐modal access, including access to General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee and the Port of Milwaukee. The port represents a regional transportation and distribution center with markets that include Wisconsin, northern and western Illinois, and Minnesota.
Currently, 70‐100 employees per day are working on the project at one of the two separate work sites in Kenosha and Racine. This project also includes a unique Pre‐Apprenticeship Training program which provides local workers in Racine and Kenosha with job training and introductions to prospective employers.
Posted by Linda H on 4:28:00 PM
Equinox Chemicals of Albany, Georgia designs, manufactures and distributes chemical products; primarily organic molecules used in various specialty chemical compounds.
In 2009 Equinox Chemicals’ export sales doubled, having grown to represent over 40 percent of their total business. To meet the demand for its products, the company obtained a $3.2 million SBA 504 loan through Southern Georgia Area Development Corporation and Flint Community Bank to finance a major plant expansion.
Over $27,000 in fees were waived since the 20‐year loan was made under the Recovery Act. The loan, approved on May 19, 2010, will fund the purchase of additional land and an adjoining building, along with new equipment and other improvements. It will also help create over 20 new jobs over the next 18 months.
The 504 loan combined a 50 percent loan from the bank with another 40 percent funded by CDC debentures and guaranteed by SBA. About 10 percent of the expansion costs are being covered by Equinox.
Posted by Linda H on 4:21:00 PM
The Cornell Dubilier Electronics site in South Plainfield, New Jersey received $30 million in Recovery Act funding to accelerate the cleanup of contaminated soil and debris.
During its years of operation at the site, Cornell Dubilier Electronics, Inc. manufactured electronic parts and components, including capacitors. The soil is contaminated with semi‐volatile organic compounds, metals, and PCBs and is being treated on‐site using low temperature thermal desorption or transported off‐site for disposal.
Addressing the contaminated soils will allow redevelopment to begin at the industrial park, which is part of a Borough of South Plainfield approved redevelopment plan. Approximately 68 jobs have been created and so far, more than 41,000 tons of soil has been treated.
Projected completion is expected in Spring 2011.
Posted by Linda H on 4:16:00 PM
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center received a $24.7 million award from the Department of Energy to construct a wind blade testing facility. This facility will be the largest of its kind in the world – capable of testing 3 large wind‐turbine blades, up to 90 meters in length.
The project is expected to be completed by February 2011, and a number of private blade manufacturers have already agreed to send their blades to Boston for testing.
Currently, blades of this size are rarely produced in the United States because the cost of testing them overseas is too high. In addition to employing 60 construction workers, this facility could change the wind turbine manufacturing industry in America.
Posted by Linda H on 4:12:00 PM
The California Department of Transportation is using $198 million in Recovery Act funds to expand the Caldecott Tunnel, which connects the Contra Costa suburbs to the city of Oakland through the Berkeley Hills. With about 250 workers on the job currently, workers continue to be hired for the project, while tunnel boring is underway on both sides of the mountain.
The additional two‐lane bore, which will bring the total number of lanes to eight, is expected to alleviate congestion on Highway 24 for approximately 160,000 daily commuters.
Posted by Linda H on 4:07:00 PM
Celgard, a company that manufactures battery separator materials which are a key component of lithium‐ion batteries for electric drive vehicles, won a $49 million Recovery Act grant to expand capacity at its manufacturing operations in Charlotte, North Carolina and build a new manufacturing facility in Concord, North Carolina.
According to Celgard, their Recovery Act‐funded project has supported more than 100 jobs already, and will support more than 250 jobs when the project is complete. Building off of the initial Recovery Act investment, Celgard and its project partners are investing private funding to cover more than half the total project cost.
Posted by Linda H on 3:45:00 PM
The Recovery Act has awarded $153.5 million to the Cancer Genome Atlas project (TCGA), a large‐scale collaborative effort involving 15 premier research institutions across the United States to characterize the genetic and genomic changes that occur in human adult cancers.
The project involves more than 150 researchers to comprehensively characterize the genomic alterations and molecular pathways involved in the development of human adult cancers. The increase in number of cancers being studied, combined with the emergence of powerful new technologies to sequence and analyze cancer genomes, could fundamentally change cancer research and, ultimately, cancer treatment.
For example, TCGA data and insights gained from other Recovery Act‐funded research could substantially shorten the time and reduce the costs involved in drug development. The information on genomes generated as a result of this study could eventually allow doctors to identify the genetic subtype of cancer affecting a patient.
This means that specific, targeted treatments could be chosen for their efficacy and tailored to the patient in ways never possible before. In addition, this study could help develop preventative measures and ways to target and intervene with cancer long before any tumor develops or symptoms first appear.
Posted by Linda H on 3:34:00 PM
Warriors In Transition Complex, Fort Bliss, Texas – $51 million
The Department of Defense is committed to providing high quality support to wounded, ill and injured Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines. To this end, the Department is using $100 million of Recovery Act funds to construct two Warrior in Transition (WT) complexes, one of which is located at Fort Bliss, TX.
This project, which has created approximately 230 jobs so far, was awarded under two contracts. The first contract was awarded to Sundt Construction on May 1, 2009 and the second was awarded to FPM Remediations, a small business, on June 25, 2009.
This 185,000 square feet complex consisting of a 232 person barracks, a Battalion and Company Administrative building, and a Soldier and Family Assistance Center (SFAC) is designed to provide housing, social, legal, coun‐ seling, and financial services to injured soldiers as they transition within and out of active duty service.
The project is expected to be complete in February 2011.
Posted by Linda H on 9:59:00 AM
In February a wound-care team from Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston traveled to Haiti, to help care for patients suffering from the large open wounds that accompany amputations, crushed limbs, and other injuries.
Among the team was MIT graduate student
Danielle Zurovcik, who arrived ready to test a device which uses negative pressure to pull bacteria and fluid out of wounds, and was the crowning achievement for her master’s degree thesis project.
Posted by Linda H on 8:19:00 AM
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Nov. 11, 2010 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced nearly $247.9 million in funding for telecommunications projects that will improve broadband service to rural residents and businesses in 11 states.
This funding, which is part of the $690 million investment from USDA's Telecommunications Infrastructure Loan Program during fiscal year 2010, will finance over 16,000 miles of Fiber to the Home (FTTH), bringing high speed internet service to rural areas.
Apple Needs to Make it in America
