Going Green Means Gaining Jobs in Central Valley

Operating Engineers Local No. 3 Newsletter

The 200-megawatt utility-scale Wright Solar project is unique on its own, simply because of its enormity and location. Spanning across a giant, privately owned 2,700-acre field nestled in Los
Banos, southwest of the intersection of I-5, Hwy. 33 and Hwy. 152, 1,300 acres will be used for solar panels to power 100,000 San Mateo County homes with clean, efficient energy. Just how efficient? According to the electricity provider, Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE), its rates will save county residents about $17 million a year, with their energy being 100 percent renewable by 2025.

But the project is even more unique specifically for Operating Engineers with signatory Live Action, because it is under a ProjectLabor Agreement (PLA), meaning every construction job the project creates will belong to a unionized, local craft – big news for our Central Valley members, who rarely enjoy short work commutes.

“I get a chance to go home, which is a rarity sometimes,” said District 50 Lead Gradechecker Nick Dodson.

Having local union labor has been important to PCE from Day One, because the company believes a partnership between an inclusive and sustainable workforce is critical to everyone’s success.

“As a local Community Choice agency, it is very important to us and our board members, who are locally elected city council members and county supervisors, to have a Sustainable Workforce policy that prioritizes utilizing union labor when possible,” said PCE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jan Pepper.

Read more here (page 17): https://www.oe3.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2019-may-engineers-news.pdf