Administration Kicks Off “Recovery Summer” with Groundbreakings and Events Across the Country

President Obama, Vice President Biden and Other Administration Officials to Highlight Surge in Recovery Act Infrastructure Projects This Summer

WASHINGTON, DC – The Administration today kicks off “Recovery Summer,” a six-week-long focus on the surge in Recovery Act infrastructure projects that will be underway across the country in the coming months – and the jobs they’ll create well into the fall and through the end of the year. The Recovery Act has already funded tens of thousands of projects and put about 2.5 million Americans to work, but summer 2010 is actually poised to be the most active Recovery Act season yet, with tens of thousands of projects underway across the country that will help to create jobs for American workers and economic growth for businesses, large and small. For example:

Highway Projects: There will be six times as many highway projects underway in July 2010 as in July 2009 – projects will surge from 1,750 last summer to over 10,000 this summer.
Clean and Drinking Water: This summer over 2,800 clean and drinking water projects will be underway versus just over 100 last summer – more than 20 times as many.
Home Weatherization: This summer, 82,000 homes will be weatherized versus 3,000 last summer – 27 times as many homes this summer as last.
National Parks: This July, nearly 800 projects will be underway at national parks versus just over 100 last July – 8 times as many this summer.

As part of Recovery Summer, President Obama, Vice President Biden and other Administration officials will travel to more than two dozen Recovery Act project sites in the coming weeks, highlighting the surge in project activity and the Recovery Act’s steady climb to 3.5 million jobs by the end of the year.

On Friday, June 18th, President Obama will travel, to Columbus, Ohio to mark the first of many significant Recovery Act milestones coming this summer – the groundbreaking of the 10,000th Recovery Act road project to get underway. The road improvement project in downtown Columbus is expected to create over 300 construction jobs and will contribute to the broader economic development effort underway in the area around Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

On Monday, June 21st, Vice President Biden will travel to Midland, MI for the groundbreaking of the new Dow Kokam advanced battery manufacturing facility – a project made possible by a $161 million Recovery Act advanced battery grant awarded last year. In addition to creating 1,000 construction jobs, Dow says the project will eventually employ 800 permanent manufacturing workers. The groundbreaking is one of many milestones advanced battery awardees will hit this summer as they gear up to manufacture advanced batteries, vehicle components and electric vehicles with the $2.4 billion in Recovery Act grants the President and Vice President announced last August.

Details on the kickoff events Cabinet Members will be holding across the country on Thursday, June 17th and Friday, June 18th are below. Details on additional Administration Recovery Summer events will be released throughout the summer as they become available.

Thursday, June 17th

Department of Labor
Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis will travel to Michigan on Thursday, June 17. She will be joined by Executive Director of the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers Dr. Ed Montgomery. During the visit, the secretary and Montgomery will tour Macomb Community College’s engineering and advanced technology training programs. The secretary also will make an important announcement related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the creation of jobs across the state of Michigan.

General Services Administration
Administrator of General Services Martha Johnson will join Pennsylvanian workers at the construction site of the new energy-efficient solar roof of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Regional Office & Insurance Center to highlight GSA’s 218 active federal building construction projects across the nation. This summer, GSA Recovery Act construction projects are quadrupling and workers across the country are installing solar power arrays at dozens of Federal buildings nationwide, dramatically increasing GSA’s solar power generation and reducing the federal government’s consumption of energy.

Department of Housing and Urban Development
Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ron Sims will travel to Baltimore, MD, to visit Wayland Village Senior Housing, an affordable housing project that is currently under construction with HUD Recovery Act funds. He will discuss this transformative project that is creating jobs and stimulating the local economy. As summer heats up, Recovery Act-funded construction projects are kicking into high gear and putting HUD’s dollar investment and American people to work. By the end of this summer, HUD will have rehabilitated 230,000 housing units.

Friday, June 18th

Department of Agriculture
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will visit Annapolis, MD and highlight how American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investments in Maryland and throughout the country are allowing people in thousands of rural communities to access clean and safe water. Through the Recovery Act, USDA Rural Development received $3.6 billion in funding, which is helping to rebuild and revitalize drinking water, sanitary sewer, solid waste and storm drainage systems throughout rural America.

Department of Energy
Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Cathy Zoi will travel to Manchester, NH to visit a newly weatherized home with U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen where they will highlight the progress the Administration’s weatherization program has made over the last year. This summer, the Administration expects to weatherize 82,000 homes – 27 times as many homes as were weatherized last summer. Home weatherization saves consumers on average $400 per year in utility costs.