For 33 of his 37 years with First Energy, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s father-in-law worked at the former First Energy Plant C pumping station in Ashtabula Township.

Brown held his father-in-law’s hard hat, that he wore as a maintenance worker at the plant, while he addressed local and state dignitaries as well as former employees of the plant during a groundbreaking celebration Monday signifying the start of $3 million renovation project.

Brown, along with countless others, recognizes Plant C, which pumps 20 million gallons of water to local industries every day, as the future of economic development in Ashtabula County.

When First Energy announced, back in 2005, its plans to shut-down the plant, county officials stepped in to make sure that didn’t happen.