Monday, November 2, 2015
A rally was held on October 17th to show Governor Cuomo that the community still supports the Repower of the Dunkirk Power Plant. The rally was organized and spearheaded by Senator Kathy Young. I would like to personally thank Senator Young for all her efforts to help on the Dunkirk Repower Project. The rally was well attended by the community and our members from the Dunkirk Plant along with their families and retirees. I would like to thank the local Union brothers and sisters from the Local Building Trades, Municipal unions, Teacher unions and also all the local Politicians who helped organize and attended the rally.
President/Business Manager Ted Skerpon delivered a great speech, speaking to not only the Repower effort at the Dunkirk plant but how it will affect our members and their families. He talked about the industry as a whole and the huge problems we face in this industry. He talked about the imported power coming into New York State and how there is an unfair tax advantage for them. He talked about how our New York-based power plants are paying into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative or RGGI and how the power imports from Pennsylvania and New Jersey are produced by coal plants that have a large dirty carbon footprint larger than our Dunkirk plant has today and how the environmentalists are not complaining about those dirty carbon imports. He talked about how the Repower of the Dunkirk plant would reduce the carbon footprint. Ted talked about importing power from Canada and how it affects U.S. jobs and our economy. Ted talked about New York State being energy independent and protecting New York jobs and New York Power.
These are the times that the Brothers and Sisters of the IBEW Local 97 need to stand side-by-side with one another. This issue may not affect you or your family, but it affects your Brothers and Sisters and their families. We need to stand together as one voice one Union. The rally was about our power plant and our members. James Murty Assistant Business Manager West
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