Thompson co-sponsoring effort to boost logging industry
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Timber built Warren County and the oil industry made it rich.
Both industries remain key cogs in the region's economic picture.
And a bill co-sponsored by Glenn Thompson aims to boost that timber piece.
The Future Logging Careers Act – which has bipartisan and bicameral support -- would "allow teenage members of logging families to gain experience in the logging trade under parental supervision so they may carry on the family business," according to a statement from several of the co-sponsors, including Thompson.
The bill has been introduced in prior sessions and would "amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to work in certain mechanized logging operations under parental supervision."
"I have the great privilege of representing numerous family-owned logging businesses, that operate on private lands, state forests and in Pennsylvania's only National Forest, the Allegheny," Thompson said.
"For years, younger people were able to learn the family business through the guidance and comfort of their own family members," he explained,
"This commonsense legislation brings the logging industry in-line with the standards of other agri-businesses and allows the next generation to learn the trade and obtain vital knowledge through hands-on, skills-based learning. I am proud to support this effort."