43
Groundbreaking day in Struthers
Work begins on two major projects
By jeanne starmack
struthers
The city celebrated the beginning of two projects Friday that together represent the use of $7.3 million in federal stimulus funds.
Two generators at the city’s waste-treatment plant will be built with $5.4 million in funds distributed by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for communities’ green projects.
The generators will capture methane gas the plant now burns off. The generators will produce electricity to help power the plant at a cost savings of $100,000 to the city and the county. The county subsidizes 64 percent of the plant’s operations because the plant treats sewage from some of the county’s unincorporated areas.
About a mile from the plant off Bob Cene Way near Astro Shapes, a new bridge called the Lower Connector will span the river from Struthers to Campbell. It will link to an access road that Campbell expects to build this year with state grants.
Trucks serving businesses in the brownfields along the river in the two cities can use the bridge and road for easier access to Interstate 680.
The brownfields would be more attractive for redevelopment with that access, officials have said.
At the wastewater plant Friday morning, officials conducted a ceremonial groundbreaking for the generator project.
On hand were U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th; representatives from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s and Gov. Ted Strickland’s offices; county commissioners; a representative from the Ohio EPA; and several officials from Struthers, Lowellville and Campbell.
Ryan praised Mayor Terry Stocker for his persistence in pursuing the project.
“There is a lot of stimulus money available, but not everyone gets it or uses it properly,” he said. “Thank you, mayor, for your leadership.”
Max Blachman, representative for Brown, said the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act has worked.
He pointed out that everyone played a role, from Brown and Ryan voting for the act, the governor making sure funds “were well-spent” and local leaders making Struthers more energy-efficient.
After the crowd moved to Bob Cene Way, Stocker said the new 185-foot long, $1.9 million bridge has one purpose: “to develop this corridor.”
Ryan called it another project “all about job creation.”
“As we move into green energy, you’re going to have to manufacture these products,” he said, adding that “$1 billion a day” that goes to buy oil from “countries that don’t like us” should be reinvested in the United States.