ASHTABULA —
Infrastructure projects, led by Ohio’s pending high-speed rail system, could kick-start manufacturing across the state, including plants in Ashtabula County, said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH.
Brown, in the county for a meeting on the status of the county’s Plant C, discussed his Made in Ohio Program during an interview at the Star Beacon. The program would boost businesses by improving lending and expanding job training programs, supporting President Obama’s goal to increase U.S. exports, shifting energy-efficient technology to the state, and pursuing equitable trade laws.
“Every other country in the world has got a manufacturing policy,” he said. “The Obama administration is the first of the last four or five to pay attention to manufacturing. This administration is starting to enforce trade laws.”
Unfair-trade laws bear part of the blame for the decline of industries in Ashtabula County and around Ohio, Brown said.
The state’s high-speed rail system has the potential to spur manufacturing, Brown said. Plants are capable of creating the parts needed for the system, he said.
“We know how to build big things in Ohio,” Brown said. “We can still make things and manufacture things. These are the jobs that help everyday people.”
The rail system is scheduled to debut in 2012 with the help of $400 million in federal funds, he said.
Renewable energy is another potential job-builder for the state, Brown said. Tax credits are given to companies that adopt “green” initiatives and show a real interest in energy-related programs and projects, he said.
“Ohio has a lot of companies that can (build) wind components.” That strategy is preferable to relying on foreign vendors, Brown said. “We trade our addiction to foreign oil to buy Chinese wind turbines and solar panels,” he said.
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