Jul 19, 2025 3 min read

It’s the “shot in the arm” the Mon Valley needs.

Jeff Kotula, the president of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, was spot-on in his response to the news that global energy company GE Vernova’s plans to invest up to $100 million in Pennsylvania – an investment that will include an expansion at its Speers plant, where as many as 250 new jobs will be created.

“I think that’s what the Mon Valley needs right now – a transformational project that builds on our manufacturing heritage, but at the same time takes us to a new level of advanced manufacturing,” Kotula said after Tuesday’s announcement at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh, where it was also revealed that $90 billion is coming to the state for other energy and artificial intelligence-related ventures.

Kotula is right. That new level of advanced manufacturing is the key to sustaining the region’s economy for years to come. And the encouraging news couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Mon Valley has endured its fair share of economic woes, beginning with the collapse of the steel industry in the late 1970s through the ’80s, when thousands of good-paying, family-sustaining jobs were lost.

More recently, the Valley endured another blow last fall with the departure of Quality Pasta, followed in the spring by the nearby glass factory in Charleroi, resulting in a combined loss of more than 400 jobs.

Understandably, Tuesday’s good tidings were greeted with unbridled enthusiasm.

“We’re just giddy over here,” Kristin Hopkins-Calcek, Charleroi council president, told the newspaper. “After losing jobs at both Quality Pasta and the Corelle plant, not only will this be good for Speers, but it’s going to be good for all of us in the Greater Charleroi area. We know what a great location we have. We know what a great workforce we have. It was an excellent decision on GE’s part.”

Jamie Colecchi, CEO of the Mon Valley Alliance, who worked with GE Vernova on the purchase of land in Speers for the expansion, expressed gratitude as well.

“It’s great news coming on the heels of job losses … This is a way of recovering those jobs, if not gaining a couple more.”

The future appears bright indeed.

GE Vernova anticipates adding about 700 new jobs across Pennsylvania over the next two years. The Speers plant manufactures products used in the operation of the country’s power grids.

“We are investing in Charleroi and our advanced grid technology because it complements the investments we’ve made in power generation,” Strazik said. “For the U.S. to lead in energy, manufacturing critical domestic grid infrastructure is just as important as generation.”

Is it premature to say the local expansion is the harbinger of a new era of prosperity?

Perhaps, but, to quote poet Alexander Pope, hope springs eternal.

In the meantime, we stand ready with a talented workforce eager to help ignite a rebirth.