PATRICK ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES LATEST ROUND OF WORKFORCE TRAINING GRANT $3.7M

PATRICK ADMINISTRATION CELEBRATES SUCCESSFUL WORKFORCE TRAINING INITIATIVES AND ANNOUNCES LATEST ROUND OF GRANT FUNDING FOR MASSACHUSETTS COMPANIES

$3.7 million in matching grants complement private sector workforce training initiatives to benefit over 3,273 employees at 39 Massachusetts companies

CHARLTON – Monday, December 9, 2013 – Continuing with the Patrick Administration’s strategic investments in workforce training initiatives, Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Joanne F. Goldstein today announced $3.7 million in Workforce Training Fund General Program Grants during a visit to INCOM, a Charlton-based manufacturer and previous grant recipient. In total, today’s announced grants will provide for the training of 3,273 current and newly hired employees at 39 companies across the Commonwealth. The grants, which are for up to two years, serve as a resource for businesses to increase the skill set of their incumbent employees and provide valuable training to the workers. As a result of these awarded grants, participating companies expect to create 242 new jobs by the end of 2015.

“We continue to promote the Workforce Training Fund because it is an effective model that encourages the business community to train and retrain employees, helping Massachusetts companies stay competitive in today’s global and innovative economy,” said Secretary Goldstein. “Over the last several years, we have seen many companies succeed thanks to these training grants and we look forward to more companies growing and excelling as a result of these grants and training initiatives.”

Today’s announcement supports companies located in 32 cities and towns across the Commonwealth. Of the 39 awarded grants, one is a technical assistance grants, a type of planning grant awarded to organizations preparing to implement workforce training grants and initiatives. Additionally, 3 grants were awarded to consortium projects involving multiple employers with common training needs.

This latest round of Workforce Training Fund grants build on the record investments in workforce training and education made by the Patrick Administration in recent years. Since 2007, the Administration has awarded $74.6 million through the Workforce Training Fund in General Program Training Grants to 999 projects involving more than 1,052 businesses. As a result of this funding, 94,836 workers have been or will be trained across a broad range of industries. Today’s announced funding is the latest round of Workforce Training Fund Program grants that will further support initiatives to enhance skills for employees in sectors including: Manufacturing; Finance and Insurance; Information; Accommodation and Food Services; Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; Retail Trade; Wholesale Trade; Transportation and Warehousing; Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; and other services.

  

“We encourage businesses, regardless of size, to contact us to learn more about the Workforce Training Fund and how this resource can help them address their business needs,” said Nancy Snyder, President and CEO of EOLWD’s Commonwealth Corporation. "We are also interested in helping small businesses access the fund through consortiums that can be organized by third party workforce and training organizations.”

“If we are going to manufacture domestically, and compete globally, we need to have the best trained, most productive workforce in the world,” said Michael Detarando, INCOM President & CEO. “The Workforce Training Fund is an invaluable resource in the process toward achieving that goal and keeping manufacturing jobs here in Massachusetts.”

“The manufacturing sector is an important component of the Southern Central Massachusetts economy,” said Senator Richard T. Moore, Senate Chair of the Legislature’s Manufacturing Caucus. “Workforce development is critical to sustaining this industry, and keeping businesses in Massachusetts, especially as current employees age and jobs open up. Future candidates must be trained to fulfill those positions, and these grants will go a long way to fulfill that need.”

  

The following is a complete list of the awarded Workforce Training Fund General Program Grant Recipients announced today (listed by city/town), totaling $3,772,716:

City	Company Name	Amount Awarded	Projected Number of Employees to be Trained	New Jobs Expected to be Created
Agawam	BELT TECHNOLOGIES INC.	$75,897	31	3
AVON	CONTROLLER SERVICE & SALES CO INC.	$54,000	28	3
Ayer	L-3 COMMUNICATIONS ESSCO INC.	$107,300	110	6
BILLERICA	CABOT CORPORATION	$223,600	150	20
BOSTON	HAMPTON INN AND SUITES CROSSTOWN	$49,760	50	2
BOSTON	HOLLISTER ASSOCIATES, INC.	$221,168	298	30
BOSTON	SPALDING TOUGIAS ARCHITECTS joinsCHOO & COMPANY, INC. of Quincy for a consortium grant.	$14,400	7	1
BROCKTON	GTR MANUFACTURING CORPORATION	$100,800	65	5
CHARLEMONT	ZOAR OUTDOOR ADVENTURE RESORT, INC.	$25,692	40	0
CHELSEA	KETTLE CUISINE LLC	$249,675	226	37
CHICOPEE	DUVAL PRECISION GRINDING, INC.	$54,600	28	2
East Bridgewater	MUELLER CORPORATION	$54,135	71	1
East Longmeadow	MAYBURY MATERIAL HANDLING	$165,457	68	3
FRAMINGHAM	IDENTITY FORCE	$43,700	5	5
HAVERHILL	NEW ENGLAND DIE CUTTING / AMERICAN EMI SOLUTIONS	$39,808	36	4
HOLLISTON	IWAKI AMERICA WALCHEM	$60,480	38	3
HUDSON	HYPERTRONICS CORPORATION	$199,222	120	15
LAWRENCE	MULTIGRAINS, INC.	$197,800	111	3
Malden	MASSACHUSETTS AFL-CIO WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS, INC. (TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANT)	$21,840	N/A	N/A
MANSFIELD	SMITH & NEPHEW, INC. ASDD	$88,000	63	10
MARLBOROUGH	MARLBOROUGH SAVINGS BANK	$76,275	54	3
METHUEN	3M TOUCH SYSTEMS INC	$72,984	90	4
NEEDHAM	CVS/CAREMARK	$102,142	120	0
NORTH ADAMS	CRANE STATIONERY JOINS CRANE TECHNICAL MATERIALS, INC. OF DALTON FOR A CONSORTIUM GRANT.	$250,000	401	11
NORTH ADAMS	EXCELSIOR INTEGRATED	$80,250	46	6
NORWELL	G-FORCE SHIPPING	$54,736	42	6
PALMER	DETECTOR TECHNOLOGY, INCORPORATED	$112,800	60	3
PALMER	SANDERSON MACLEOD INC.	$131,085	93	10
PEABODY	ANALOGIC CORPORATION	$134,030	147	4
PEABODY	INNOVENT TECHNOLOGIES	$91,000	39	8
PITTSFIELD	BLUE Q CORPORATION	$57,200	29	0
QUINCY	QUINCY CREDIT UNION	$56,552	45	1
SWANSEA	BAYCOAST BANK JOINS PARTNERS INSURANCE GROUP AND PLIMOUTH INVESTMENT ADVISORS, BOTH OF SWANSEA, FOR A CONSORTIUM GRANT.	$193,978	325	20
WALTHAM	PLATING FOR ELECTRONICS, INC	$38,200	38	2
WEST BRIDGEWATER	KOSO AMERICA, INC.	$61,500	68	3
WEST BRIDGEWATER	STD PRECISION GEAR & INSTRUMENT, INC.	$36,400	26	1
WEST WAREHAM	CALORIQUE LLC	$30,360	14	2
WEST WAREHAM	MEDER ELECTRONICS INC	$58,810	25	2
WILMINGTON	S.G. TORRICE CO., INC	$87,080	66	3

To learn more about the Workforce Training Fund Program, visit www.mass.gov/wtfp.

Patrick Administration Issues Final RGGI Revisions to Dramatically Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants

Patrick Administration Issues Final RGGI Revisions to Dramatically Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants

BOSTON – December 9, 2013 -  The Patrick Administration today issued final amendments to a regulation that will reduce up to 90 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants across nine New England and mid-Atlantic states during the next six years.

Massachusetts and eight other states – Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont – are part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is the nation’s first “cap-and-trade” program. Power plants in the RGGI states must purchase “allowances” that allow them to emit carbon dioxide. The states auction off these allowances and use the proceeds for public purposes, especially investments in energy efficiency, which create jobs and keep energy spending local.

The revisions to the Commonwealth’s RGGI program, as well as similar changes in the other eight states, will lower the existing “cap” on power plant emissions in the RGGI states from the current level of 165 million tons per year to 91 million tons per year starting in 2014. The cap will then be lowered by 2.5 percent each year thereafter until 2020. This reduction will ensure that in 2020, power plant emissions from these nine states will be half of what they were in 2005, when RGGI was initiated.

The lower cap is also expected to generate an estimated $350 million in additional revenue for the Commonwealth by 2020.These revenues will be invested primarily in programs to improve energy efficiency in Massachusetts’ municipalities, businesses and residences, which will, in turn, reduce energy costs and lower carbon dioxide emissions.

“Massachusetts has benefitted greatly from our participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rick Sullivan. “The program has cut more than 10 million tons of pollutants from our air, invested more than $252 million in energy efficiency improvements and generated thousands of clean-tech jobs.”

Buoyed by the program’s success, the nine RGGI states have also called upon the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to embrace regional cap-and-trade programs when it issues federal rules to cut carbon emissions from power plants.

“RGGI has been an unqualified success as the nation’s first market-based program to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, and these program revisions are a perfect match to President Obama’s climate change goals,” said Commissioner Kenneth Kimmell of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). “Massachusetts and our RGGI partners have created a model for states across the nation, and federal officials should consider it as an option for compliance with the upcoming national rules.”

“Massachusetts has invested RGGI proceeds wisely, with nation-leading results,” said Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Commissioner Mark Sylvia.“We have directed the vast majority into the Mass Save® energy efficiency programs, as well as Green Communities grants, providing billions in benefits to businesses, individuals and municipalities. We look forward to continued economic and environmental contributions from RGGI.”

While the price for allowances is expected to rise under the new cap, the revisions call for the establishment of a “cost containment reserve” that would stabilize allowance prices in unforeseen circumstances, such as a shortage of natural gas. The cost containment reserve would inject additional allowances into the marketplace if allowance prices reach certain triggers ($4 per ton in 2014, $6 in 2015, $8 in 2016 and $10 in 2017, rising by 2.5 percent, to account for inflation, each year thereafter).

Before making these revisions, the RGGI states conducted extensive modeling on the impacts of these changes on consumers. The modeling shows that the impacts of the reduced emissions cap will be very modest, less than one percent in consumer bills. The average Massachusetts residential customer’s monthly electric bill of $72 will rise by 39 cents; the average commercial customer’s monthly bill of $455 will rise by $3.89; and the average industrial customer’s monthly bill of $6,659 will rise by $83.

For more information about the RGGI program revisions for Massachusetts, turn here: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/massdep/air/regulations/310-cmr-7-00-air-pollution-control-regulation.html#3

For more information about the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and its cap-and-trade program, turn here: www.rggi.org