300 Letters Sent in Support of Ravenna Missile Site
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Supporters of placing the proposed East Coast Missile Defense System at Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center have sent more than 300 letters to the Trump administration, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber reported Wednesday.
Among the letters tracked by the chamber is a March 5 joint letter from members of Ohio’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman and U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan and Bill Johnson.
The Ohio Metro Chambers Coalition – whose membership includes chambers of commerce across the state, including Youngstown/Warren – also wrote in support of awarding the missile defense center to Camp Ravenna, as did superintendents of school districts across Trumbull County.
The chamber and its Eastern Ohio Military Affairs Commission have solicited letters of support for Camp Ravenna to be chosen for the missile defense system for the past month and made specific requests to service organizations, government associations and others.
The letters point to the role Camp Ravenna has played in the nation’s defense in the past and assets such as Ravenna’s proximity to Youngstown, Akron, Canton and Cleveland. With each of those cities comes its workforce and the regional infrastructure necessary for a project of this size. The project would cost roughly $4.5 billion and require 2,000 workers during construction. It would employ 800 once completed.
They also cite the region’s affordability and available labor pool to construct the center, including 78,000 men and women in the construction trades in northeast Ohio, far more than the New York and Michigan sites under consideration for the project have available.
“In addition to the sound arguments that we have the most buildable and affordable site, the big takeaway from these letters is that this community and the state of Ohio overwhelmingly embrace the presence of the U.S. military here,” said Guy Coviello, the chamber’s vice president of government affairs.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
