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ETA News Release: [02/14/2003]
Contact Name: Elissa Pruett
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676

Secretary Elaine L. Chao and Senator Pete Domenici Announce $2.1 Million Grant to New Mexico to Improve Petroleum Technology Worker Training

WASHINGTON—Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao was joined by Senator Pete Domenici in announcing a grant of $2.1 million for San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico, to train workers for oil and gas jobs.

The grant is part of a larger $8 million program to give workers the skills they need to secure good jobs, while at the same time addressing a severe shortage of skilled energy workers. This training program will serve all major U.S. oil and gas production regions, including the Southwest, Rocky Mountain, Great Plains, and Gulf Coast states as well as Alaska.

“The President has proposed a comprehensive economic package that will stimulate job growth. One of the sectors where we are already seeing increased demand for new workers is the energy industry,” said Chao. “It is clearly in the national interest to help remedy this situation and that’s why we’re announcing this grant today. This $8 million job-training program is part of the President’s comprehensive plan to ensure that the nation has the energy—and the energy workers—it needs now and in the future.”

The grant program is a broad-based partnership that includes state workforce agencies, industry, community colleges and vocational institutions, placing special emphasis on recruiting Hispanic and Native American workers, dislocated workers and other populations experiencing disproportionately high unemployment. The grant to San Juan College will be administered through a regional partnership with the public workforce agencies of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Wyoming.

For more information, please visit www.dol.gov.

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