Pro-Coal Is Pro-Worker, Pro-Trump
President Trump’s resounding electoral victory last year marked a pivotal shift toward embracing American energy dominance and protecting workers whose jobs have been threatened by Democrats’ war on coal. State lawmakers must now do their part to back President Trump’s pro-energy agenda and support energy workers.
Two bills currently moving through the Ohio state legislature, HB 15 and SB 2, have the potential to align the state’s energy policies with those of the President, thereby supporting good-paying jobs at the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) coal plant in Gallia County.
The OVEC plant employs 275 workers directly and another 50 full-time local contractors. Robert “Jake” Mitchell, President of the Utility Workers Union of America, Local Union No. 430, and a Senior Electrical Technician who works at the OVEC plant, recently provided testimony on the bills:
“In addition to essential grid reliability and sustainability, the economic resources that the plant provides the region are invaluable. There simply isn’t anywhere else in southeast Ohio that could replace my job at OVEC. We are an area leader in wages and OVEC offers its employees a very good retirement plan. Most employers do not even offer comparable retiree benefits anymore.”
Aligning state policy with President Trump’s energy agenda will protect jobs, strengthen our national and energy security, fuel economic growth, and expand opportunities for all Ohioans.
March 5, 2025