L-454 BM/ST Lee Lunsford speaks with local news stations
A massive new energy campus proposed for Cleveland and Bradley County, Tennessee, could bring billions of dollars in investments and thousands of construction jobs to the area.
Project River is an $11.3 billion industrial energy campus that would include a natural gas plant and a biomass plant that would potentially provide power to a data center, robotics development, battery production or any energy-intensive industry.
The 850-acre development along the Hiwassee River will take an estimated 60 months to build and create 900 permanent jobs. Because this is Boilermaker work, members from Local 454 (Chattanooga, Tennessee) came out in support of the project at a Project River public information meeting on Saturday, Sept. 12 at PIE Innovation Center in Cleveland.
Local 454 BM-ST Lee Lunsford spoke at the meeting and to the press in favor of the new power plant and potential data center project. He spoke with News 9 WTVC (ABC), News 12 WDEF (CBS affilate), and the Cleveland Banner.
“If this moves forward, the jobs that come with it matter as much as the investment,” said Lunsford. “Skilled, certified, local craft, or whoever comes in cheapest from out of state. That part isn't decided by the market. It gets decided early, by the people at this table and the people at the top of this project.”
“Our members go through a four-year apprenticeship before they ever work unsupervised. That's not just about wages. It's about a plant that gets built right, inspected right, and runs safe for 40 years next to this community.”
The project can’t move forward without approval for annexation and land use.
