A big part was explaining who the Boilermakers are, about our apprenticeship programs and how Boilermaker careers offer working people good pay and a good life.
L-101 BM-ST Robert Gallegos joins energy leaders on a panel addressing the future of America’s energy.
The U.S. Department of Energy hosted a working group event through the Colorado School of Mines in April to address funding for clean energy manufacturing and economic development. Local 101 (Denver) Business Manager-Secretary Treasurer Robert Gallegos was selected to participate on the DOE’s Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization—more specifically discussing “Building Successful Partnerships for Energy Communities.”
“A big part was explaining who the Boilermakers are, about our apprenticeship programs and how Boilermaker careers offer working people good pay and a good life,” said Gallegos. “When there’s talk about shutting coal plants down, I don’t think people are aware of how that impacts the towns that depend on those jobs or what to do with the skilled workers if those plants shut down. What are those people supposed to go to work? They’ll have to relocate and move away.”
Gallegos talked about how the Boilermaker industry fits into clean energy plans and how the union is prepared with the skilled and trained workforce for new and retrofit projects. He has worked to keep the Boilermakers’ role in carbon capture and other new energy technologies front and center in Colorado and Wyoming, and he has been a part of Colorado’s carbon capture task force created by Governor Jared Polis.
Joining him on the panel were representatives from the Department of Energy, the Colorado Office of Just Transition and Four Corners Economic Development.
