Sen. Brown: Budget request includes $150 million to advance Piketon’s American Centrifuge Project
Community Common — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today praised the inclusion of $150 million in Research, Development & Deployment funds for the American Centrifuge Project (ACP). The funds will help ensure that the ACP is in the strongest position possible to receive a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy (DOE), which would help create 4,000 jobs in Southern Ohio. The Piketon site will also receive more than $120 million in cleanup funds through the DOE Office of Environmental Management program.
“This takes us one step closer to realizing the 4,000 jobs that would be created through the American Centrifuge Project, but our fight for these jobs is far from over,” Brown said. “I will continue working with business and community leaders to ensure that there is a path forward for ACP.”
The budget also includes $206 million in cleanup funds to help the site attract future economic development by reducing the threats to health, safety, and the environment posed by contamination and waste at the former DOE weapons complex. Brown has led the fight in Congress to accelerate the Piketon cleanup and to create new jobs. He successfully secured an expedited timeframe for the cleanup, moving the completion date up by more than 20 years. As a result of Brown and President Obama’s efforts, cleanup funding at Piketon doubled, including $118 million in cleanup funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Federal funds for Piketon have helped to create more than 275 jobs in the region.
