EPA awards PathStone Corp. grant for training in Puerto Rico

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Wednesday that it has given PathStone Corp. an Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training grant of $192,300 for green job training in Puerto Rico.

PathStone -- which also operates in Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,  Vermont and Virginia -- helps low-income families and communities throughout Puerto Rico and will use the EPA grant to provide 55 people with training that will earn them six Puerto Rico or federal certifications.

The core training will include a 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training as well as courses on abating asbestos and lead and operating heavy machinery typically used in cleanups. The funding will also place at least 40 of the trainees in environmental jobs.

To complete the training, which will focus on people from Guayanilla, Penuelas and Ponce municipalities, PathStone will work with partners including Ponce and Suroeste Consortiums, the University of Puerto Rico and Occupational Safety Training Corp.

“Cleaning up the environment creates jobs,” EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck said. “EPA is happy to provide needed funding to ensure that people are properly trained while doing environmental cleanup work in Puerto Rico.”