38 1 ev e rything else is second ary to that. 2 Training. 798 is home to the most --- one of the most state-of -the-art tra ining fac ilities in the country. We und erst and that w e must keep up w ith the most current w eld ing procedures in an eve r-chang ing industry. Our facil ity has 52 weld ing b and is equippe d with a ten-t on ove rhead crane so our memb ers can e ither brush up or learn new w eld ing skills. The Local 7 98 tra ining center is a testament to our ded icat ion to pr ov iding our members wit h the be st of the b e st whe n it come s to training so they can thes e latest technol og ies when pip e lines are built now and in the fut ure . In closing, I w ould like to say the pur pose of my speech is to show you who will be buil d ing this pipe line and to ensur e you that it will be built with highly t rained , skilled , sa fe American wor kers. I support this pipeline and loo k forward to see ing my p eople going to w ork on it. CHAIR: Carl M arrara. 2 2 M R . MAR RARA: 23 Good ev M y name is C arl Marr ara, I'm the Vice-Presid ent of Gov ernment Af fa irs for the Pennsylvania M anu facturing Assoc iation. W e are the
44 The gentlema n from the Man ufacturing Association said it best, we need to g en erate more power and we' re going to do it with natur a l ga s. You w ant clean po wer? That' s the cleanest power we got. The IBEW has partnered with Sun to do these pr o jects. W e build by the code of exce llence. I h old eve ry one of guys to a higher stand ard. I know them p ersonally, I'v e worked with them. I'v e d wr enches wit h them. I'm an e lectrician in a suit tonight, that's what I am. I hav e no doubt that these gentl emen and these women that are her e repres enting these trades, they' ll build the pipelin e safely. And I hav e no doubt that ther e's going to be passion on both sides of this issue , b ut it' s about the gr eate r good for PA. And that' s why we support this project. I as k you to appr ove the p ermits. I ask you to mov e this pr o ject a long. I ask that we do b uild the project safe. And I hav e no doubt that Teddy's guys or Paul' s guys or Ed' s guys or my guys --- it' s going to be done safe. And w e do hold our selv es to a hig her standard. And I can tell you now, if my guys a re on that site , and they wa nt to do somethin g shady or shoddy, that ain' t going to fly. So pleas e 1 appr ove it, let' s get the shovels in the g round and
71 to the landhold ers and the other sta kehold ers involv ed and who w ould be affect ed by the b uilding of this pip eline. 4 So for starters , I th ink that the public comment p eriod should be ext ended for a minimum of another 45 days, be cause it has not allow ed for enou gh time for pe ople t o bring in independent surveyors and other relevant information to submit to the DEP about their environme nt a l concerns. And that is rea lly ala rming. And I think that whe n that informat ion comes in, when w e hav e independent sources coming in and looking at the w ork that the pi peline companies hav e done on the environm ent a l impa ct assessments, we' ll see that , in fact , the envir onment al impa cts, regar dless of safety ---. B ecaus e when you cut down lots of trees and when you cross streams, you get sediment at ion and you get fragment at ion of land. And you affect endang ered species which are pr otect ed by the federal and state government s. That this pipeline could not be built safely and could not be built in a way that did not hav e negativ e envir onment al impacts on the land that it is going thr ou gh. 2 3 And so from th at p er spective I think that ther e should be more t ime allow ed for this proce ss. And at the end of the da y I think that the se