Burns: Big-city outsiders should stop trying to block western Pa. job growth
Petrochemical, plastics industries offer huge turnaround opportunity
Rep. Frank Burns October 31, 2019 | 12:22 PM
EBENSBURG, Oct. 31 – Tired of outside interests trying to block economic growth and smother creation of good-paying jobs throughout western Pennsylvania, state Rep. Frank Burns is advising Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and the Philadelphia-based “Conservation Voters of PA” to stop sticking their noses in other people’s business.
Burns, D-Cambria, said he is among those elected officials being criticized by “Conservation Voters of PA” for supporting job creation through petrochemical industry expansion, which he believes represents the region’s best chance to recover from the decades-long demise of the coal and steel industries.
Burns also said that Peduto’s recent comment that as a region, “We do not have to become the petrochemical and plastics center of the U.S.” is borderline insane, given the potential for billions of dollars in investment and thousands of new jobs with excellent wages and employee benefits.
“I honestly think they’re all trying to block prosperity in Cambria County,” Burns said. “Mayor Peduto has never met a dollar’s worth of investment for Pittsburgh that he didn’t like, so who is he to speak for the rest of us now? And a front group from Philadelphia has no real or legitimate interest in deciding what’s best for people living on the other side of the state.”
As part of his outreach to bring business and industry to Cambria County – which includes recruitment overtures to Amazon and Sherwin-Williams – Burns has contacted ExxonMobil, which is scouting for a Pennsylvania site for a plastics manufacturing plant, the type of which usually creates 10,000 jobs.
“I’ve spoken to their representative and told them of the availability of a Keystone Opportunity Zone in Cambria County, and they asked me to send them the details,” Burns said. “To any company considering investing in our region: The people of Cambria County that I represent welcome you.
“We certainly expect that you will abide by all state and federal environmental regulations. But unlike the outsiders, we understand and appreciate that your industry creates family-sustaining jobs, many of which come with excellent benefits and wages for our blue- and white-collar trades.”
Burns said a responsible middle ground exists with any big economic development project, and he assures his environmental-minded friends that he will work to ensure that those concerns are addressed under any such expansion.
“As a Jack Murtha Democrat, I want to make crystal clear that good-paying, family-sustaining jobs and the industries that support them are welcomed with open arms in our communities,” Burns said. “But if the mayor of Pittsburgh in his short-sightedness wants to shoo those jobs away, I hope and pray that they fly east and roost in Cambria County, where we’re open for business.”