49er Muscle is put behind 2 Major Energy Projects in Upper Midwest

Jobs and more jobs unleashed in wind and crude oil projects

America’s vision of energy independence will have the might of the Local 49er work force behind it thanks to two key agreements newly forged between the union’s leadership and management for wind and crude oil projects.

In the nation’s Wind Belt, 49ers were dispatched on Monday (July 20) to a significant turbine construction project in Miller, S.D., after the International Union of Operating Engineers – Local 49 came to a labor agreement with M.A. Mortenson Construction covering North and South Dakota.

"Wind Farms – a truly green technology -- represents a booming new industry and America's next great frontier for job growth,” said Local 49 Business Manager Glen Johnson, moments after announcing the agreement for the BP Energy plan to build 10 turbines in one of the nation’s richest locations for wind energy.

Johnson added, “We're delighted that our long and loyal partnership with Mortenson will include using our skilled and experienced members in all our states.”

While noting the half-century that Mortenson and Local 49 leadership have worked together and the Minnesota wind project agreement already on the books, Johnson said, “This new agreement will help to secure jobs for the growing number of wind turbine projects in the future.”

Wind energy is poised to do for the economies of Minnesota and the Dakotas what the oil industry did for Texas and surrounding states many decades ago – and now Local 49ers are fully engaged in this promising energy source.

“There is so much at stake now, as there was in America’s Oil Boom of days gone by,” Johnson said. “Turning first to highly skilled Local 49ers for turbine construction is truly in everyone’s interest.”

Local 49ers also won and savored a second job-creating victory Monday (July 20) when the environmental green light was given to the Enbridge Project. That will put to work hundreds of 49ers across North Dakota and Minnesota building the crude oil pipeline, which originates in Canada.

The go-ahead for what is considered one of the region’s largest projects of its kind ever “is really good news, news we've been waiting for a long time,” Johnson said.

The project will employ hundreds of 49ers over the next 12 months, Johnson said, who made sure to acknowledge the vital role that Congressman Jim Oberstar and his staff played in collaborating with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to ensure that all environmental requirements were met.