Norton Celebrates Coming Jobs First Phase as Millionth Cubic Yard of Dirt Moved at DHS Site

Norton Celebrates Coming Jobs First Phase as Millionth Cubic Yard of Dirt Moved at DHS Construction Site

August 24, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will join officials and staff from the General Services Administration (GSA) and Clarke Construction to celebrate GSA's millionth cubic yard of dirt moved at the construction site of the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters. Norton, Chair of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, with jurisdiction over the construction, will deliver remarks to commemorate the progress of the largest construction project in the U.S. today, and the largest federal project since the Pentagon.

Norton said, "The remarkable progress made at the DHS site has not only cleared away a million cubic yards of dirt, but also has cleared the way for 38,000 construction-related jobs and many small business contracts through 2016. The ultimate job prize will be the 14,000 federal jobs, the first ever, east of the Anacostia River in Ward 8."

The work at the DHS site has consisted primarily of excavation and truck hauling of soil and rocks with trucks leaving the construction site every 37 seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and culminating in today's celebration of one million cubic yards of dirt moved at the site. The project, for which most of the major construction work for the DHS site began this summer, is on track to award 40 percent of the contracts to small, local, or disadvantaged businesses. Fifteen D.C. businesses, including seven based in Ward 8 already have received contracts.

Norton worked with Clarke Construction and GSA to build the Opportunities Center at the St. Elizabeths West Campus, which opened for business in Ward 8 in February of 2010, to give residents direct access to jobs and small business opportunities as they become available. The Congresswoman also secured $3 million for pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.