ONALASKA, WA – Recently, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) visited with workers at TransAlta’s Centralia power plant, met with students enrolled in Onalaska High School’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, and toured the Regenerative Industrial and Krume Custom Lumber facilities.
“Folks in Lewis County understand what makes Southwest Washington such a special place – and have worked hard to keep it that way,” said Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez. “Whether it was the good people from TransAlta who are dedicated to our communities, the Onalaska High School students I met who are learning how to raise salmon and steelhead, or the family-owned businesses I toured that are finding new ways for our timber and agricultural industries to partner up, I was so encouraged to see the grit and care that people are approaching their work with, and it’s a privilege to stand with them in it.“
For her first stop of the day. Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez visited TransAlta’s Centralia power plant, where she sat down with the company to discuss their presence in Lewis County and the history of mining and energy production at the plant.
Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez next visited Onalaska High School’s CTE program. CTE Instructor, Kevin Hoffman, and some of his students led the Congresswoman on a tour of their aquaculture program, wood shop, and metal shop.
Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez has visited CTE programs in all seven counties in Southwest Washington.
She has strongly advocated to extend Perkins Grant funding to sixth graders, and this year passed a provision through the House Appropriations Committee in line with that goal. She also passed an amendment through that same committee to push for AP credits for shop classes.
The Congresswoman introduced legislation to expand uses of 529 plans to include tools for technical careers, help small businesses hire trade school graduates and support them in starting their own businesses, and build awareness of career and technical education opportunities.
In the afternoon, the Congresswoman toured Regenerative Industrial and Krume Custom Lumber, two father-son businesses that operate in the same facility in Onalaska.
Krume Custom Lumber is uniquely equipped to handle oversized and fire salvaged logs from Lewis County, and across Washington and Oregon. Regenerative Industrial takes Krume’s mill waste and recycles it into products used in construction and agriculture.
This year, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez urged the Administration to refrain from cuts to federal workers that could negatively impact timber production, wildfire readiness, and recreation in Southwest Washington. Following the President’s Executive Order to increase domestic lumber production on federal lands, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez expressed support for an approach that prioritizes small, independent logging, trucking, and mill operators.
Earlier this year, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez’s provisions were signed into law to extend eligibility for the Forest Service’s Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) for federal forest restoration and management projects to Tribes and counties to increase opportunities for cross-boundary restoration. In March, she introduced the bipartisan Community Wood Facilities Assistance Act to improve markets for forest products.
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