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Minnesota Local’s Wind Turbine Training
Wows U.S. Energy Secretary

 August 17, 2009

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, certainly knows a good educational program when he sees one.  In early August, Chu visited Le Suer, Minn., Local 343’s wind turbine training facility where members learn safe climbing and rescue techniques on a 60-foot practice tower. Chu liked what he saw.

Chu told the Rochester Minnesota Post-Bulletin that his tour of the IBEW facility and other renewable energy projects confirms the powerful potential of states and the federal government partnering on green technology. Chu said, “It does my heart a lot of good to see people saying, ‘What an opportunity,’ not ‘Do I really have to do this? Are the big baddies in Washington going to force this down our throats?”

Local 343 is partnering with a local community college in applying for $2.2 million in federal grants to further develop renewable energy training programs.

Read the story in the Post-Bulletin:
         http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/print_story.asp?a=410580

For a closer look at Local 343’s wind turbine training facility, visit www.ibewhourpower.com