Grant to help spur green job creation
Trib Today – WARREN – Saying the nation's future manufacturing base and middle class will be powered by clean energy, U.S. Rep. Timothy J. Ryan, D-Niles, and other area officials hailed $100 million in federal grants unveiled Wednesday to stimulate the fledgling industry's growth.
''Our manufacturing base just isn't our past, it's our future. Having a work force trained to make these products is the future of the middle class,'' Ryan said on a conference call with U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in announcing the program.
Ryan pointed out a power-generating windmill contains about 8,000 parts, plus hundreds of tons of steel, along with parts needed to make solar panels.
''This is what we do in northeast Ohio,'' he said. ''These grants are critical to make sure our work force is properly trained to accept and produce these jobs. I think we'll look back when the economy turns around and Ohio is going to be leading the way out of this recession.''
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, pointed out Ohio, facing what he called a ''unique set of issues'' of more persistent downturn and longer recession than the rest of the country, said the money will help make the state ''the Silicon Valley of clean energy manufacturing.''
Brown noted Ohio will trail only California, with 3 1/2 times the population, in dollars from the program, which is part of the $787 billion economic stimulus that federal lawmakers passed last year to revive the economy.
