I owe my entire life, career, and success to the opportunities Mansfield provided me as a young working man. It would be a shame to see the county so needlessly shut the door to opportunity in the upcoming referendum on May 5th.
I grew up in Mansfield in the 1960s, in a house on Belmont. It wasn’t until I turned 18 and moved out that I had indoor plumbing. After my father became permanently disabled, my mother, who was a factory line worker, became the sole breadwinner for us in an area that was slowly starting to lose investment. I watched the once-booming factories slow, shrink, and outsource, leaving behind our struggling community.
I made the choice to secure my future by joining the apprenticeship in 1985 at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) at Local 688, right here in Mansfield. That was my ticket to the middle class. I was finally afforded the opportunities I only could have dreamed of as a kid: decent pay, the peace of mind that comes with an emergency fund, reliable healthcare, a pension that will allow me to retire in dignity someday, and much more.
Doing electrical work in Mansfield is how I got my start. But in the electrical industry, we have to fight for every scrap of work. We know this when we join the construction trades, that every good construction job must come to an end.
Renewable energy projects are one step in a lifelong career. Say a solar or wind project is proposed this year in Richland County, in the next few years, our current high schoolers facing graduation could work on that project during their electrical apprenticeship, earning high wages without having to leave their home county. This is how you develop a family-sustaining career in rural Ohio. Our livelihoods are built on a steady stream of projects. So why shut the door on opportunity?
My home county is faced with a difficult choice. This vote is about way more than supporting or not supporting renewable energy. If we uphold this ban, we tell the entire business and manufacturing community: “We don’t want you here! Invest elsewhere.”
Whether it’s wind, solar, coal, nuclear, or gas, the IBEW builds it all, and our grid needs it all. If this ban stands, that means instead of considering energy projects on a case-by-case basis, we are closing the county for business. I humbly ask the citizens of Richland, many of whom I grew up with, to prevent this unreasonable approach to energy policy. Please vote NO on May 5th.
Kenneth W. Cooper
International President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Washington D.C.