DOE awards $20 million grant to build new Pike County middle school
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Energy awarded a $20 million grant to the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI) to build and replace the now-closed Zahn’s Corner Middle School.
The school was shuttered in 2019 following evidence of radioactivity and radiological contamination that was registered on a nearby DOE air monitor.
The investment will also support community-focused education and training opportunities and economic development initiatives in the local community and surrounding counties near the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, according to a news release from U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.
More: Pike County school district asks feds to move middle school away from radiation
“Families shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not the schools their children attend are safe,” said Brown. “The country owes a special debt to this community. This investment will ensure that students in Pike County have a safe place to learn and help the Pike County and the surrounding communities continue to recover.”
In December, Brown secured the $20 million investment through the Fiscal Year 2023 government funding package. In October, Brown announced that the DOE awarded a $2.5 million grant, over the next five years, to Ohio University to support the university’s efforts working with community organizations involved in the ongoing clean up at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
In 2021, Brown and former U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) sent a letter urging DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm to provide the Piketon community with the money it is owed by the federal government. Specifically, the letter asks that DOE renegotiate its current Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) agreement with the Scioto Valley-Piketon Area Council of Governments. PILT payments ensure local communities are compensated due to lost tax revenues when the federal government owns land in a state.
In 2021, Brown also announced that the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management has awarded a $3.5 million grant to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) for increased oversight and monitoring of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Decontamination and Decommissioning Project in Portsmouth. This investment from DOE will increase grant funding for the project to $7.5 million, implementing new air monitoring strategies to support OEPA’s ongoing efforts to provide co-located monitoring and independent verification of DOE’s open-air demolition activities.
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: DOE awards $20 million grant to build new Pike County middle school
