Recently, Energy in Depth – Ohio traveled to Boardman, Ohio to attend the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 396 grant announcement.  Local 396, which represents highly skilled pipe trades in Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana counties, won a competitive grant to receive job development funds that will allow them to train 60 new welders.  The award is meant to serve as an advantage to workers as Utica and Marcellus Shale development continues to grow in the region.

The grant came to fruition through the work of Congressman Bill Johnson, Congressman Tim Ryan, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce, Governor Kaisch’s office and Local 396.  The bipartisan effort also secured a partnership with Eastern Gateway Community College making it possible for trainees to receive a two-year degree by adding courses from the college to their training.

Hosting the event was Local 396 Business Manager Butch Taylor, who said he is seeing a rebirth of the area.  He introduced Marty Loney, Local 396’s Training Coordinator.  Loney said the training is a way to take the Mahoning Valley area and make it a globally competitive area.

The two Congressmen, who hail from different sides of the political aisle, overlooked the current hyper partisanship in our nation’s capital to ensure Local 396 earned this grant to train the many needed welders for Ohio’s growing natural gas industry.  Congressman Ryan who proudly described the work area leaders have put in for over a decade in hopes of a revitalization in the Valley.  We were able to get his speech on film:

We all just started to sit down and talk to each other and figured out that if anything good is going to happen, it’s going to happen because we all came together—Congressman Tim Ryan (1:09)

Following all of the official comments, the many individuals involved in the incredible effort took part in the training center’s “ribbon” cutting.  As you’ll see below, Taylor thought it’d be more appropriate if they actually cut a pipe!

Local 396 receiving such an amazing opportunity is another example of how Utica Shale development is changing Ohio for the better.  Because of this effort, more than 60 people will be trained for skilled labor that is immediately needed in the area.  More jobs will benefit the many families in the area with a higher standard of living in a region that has suffered the loss of manufacturing and jobs along with the rest of the “Rust Belt”.  Now, the area is seeing a step towards a better economy and a better community.

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