Boilermakers Local 154 on Data Centers, Natural Gas and Grid Reliability

Shawn Steffee, Business Agent of Boilermakers Local 154 in Pittsburgh, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast for a trades day conversation about the energy and data center build-out taking shape in southwestern Pennsylvania and why he believes the region is uniquely positioned to lead it.

Local 154 — chartered in 1894 and currently about 870 members strong — went five years without taking a single apprentice before the work pipeline reversed dramatically. Last year, they brought on 100 apprentices and are on pace for 175 more soon. Steffee discussed the Homer City Energy Campus, where he believes a seven-unit natural gas power block totaling 4,200 megawatts is under construction alongside plans for hyperscale data centers expected to generate 3,500 building trades jobs on that site alone.

Steffee pushed back on community opposition rooted in water and electricity price concerns, and argued forcefully for natural gas as the only near-term path to reliable baseload electricity. He also described nuclear power as the likely future, while making the case that southwestern Pennsylvania has the brownfield sites, the natural resources, the water and the workforce to lead the nation's energy infrastructure build-out.

• Steffee believes the Homer City Energy Campus in Indiana County, Pennslyvania represents the model for southwestern Pennsylvania's energy future. A seven-unit natural gas power block producing 4,200 megawatts is under construction now, with hyperscale data centers planned for the same site. He projects the work will generate 3,500 building and construction trades jobs on that location alone. The campus sits on a former coal-burning power station with its own reservoir, established infrastructure and the acreage needed for large-scale energy and data development. Steffee said he sees other brownfield sites across the region as equally strong candidates for similar development.
• Steffee directly addressed the two most common community objections to data center development — water consumption and electricity prices. He argued that modern data centers use closed-loop water systems that circulate rather than consume water at the volumes opponents suggest. Further, the Homer City Energy Campus and similar developments have their own on-site water reservoirs, allowing data centers to generate their own dedicated power and sell surplus to the grid. This can actually reduce, rather than increase, electricity prices by expanding overall supply, he added.
• Pennsylvania holds the second-largest natural gas deposits in North America, largely untapped, and Steffee said the state has the resources, the workforce and the brownfield site inventory to power a major build-out of natural gas generation now, with small modular nuclear reactors as the likely successor in 10 to 15 years. He described a recent winter storm during which renewable energy sources produced zero output for four consecutive days while coal, gas and nuclear carried the entire load. It was a real-world demonstration of why reliable baseload electricity cannot be replaced by renewables at current technology levels, he said.

From a Coal Town to a Building Boom

Shawn Steffee grew up watching the economy of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, hollow out. Coal jobs disappeared. Manufacturing left. The Homer City coal-fired power plant — once the largest in Pennsylvania — shut down about four years ago. Young people left for opportunities elsewhere. School districts shrank. He watched it all happen while working in manufacturing at FMC and Star Manufacturing before those jobs disappeared, too. He eventually found his way into the Boilermakers' apprenticeship program. It changed the trajectory of his career. Now, as business agent for Local 154, he is watching it start to breathe again – something he did not expect to see.

Local 154 was officially chartered on Nov. 17, 1894, when Pittsburgh was still called the Smoky City. Today, the Local has approximately 870 members, but the trajectory has reversed sharply from where it was. For roughly five years, the Local did not take in a single apprentice. The work simply was not there. Last year, they took in 100. They are on pace to take in 175 more soon. Despite those changes, Steffee said they need more apprentices, more workers and more tradespeople ready to build what is coming.

What Boilermakers Actually Do

Steffee addressed the question he said he hears constantly: “What exactly is a boilermaker?” The answer is not the Purdue University mascot or a shot and a beer. Boilermakers are high-pressure tube welders and master riggers. They build the boilers that generate the steam that spins the turbines that produce electricity. They do the stacks and the ductwork. They are, as Steffee put it, the heart of a power plant. Without the work, it would be like a truck without an engine.

Beyond power generation, Local 154's members work in nuclear facilities, steel mills, petrochemical plants and compressor stations across the natural gas infrastructure. Anywhere the energy sector builds or maintains industrial-scale systems, boilermakers have a piece of it.

Homer City: A Model for What Steffee Believes Is Coming

The Homer City Energy Campus in Indiana County is the clearest example of what Steffee sees taking shape. In his view, a seven-unit natural gas power block producing 4,200 megawatts is under active construction, with hyperscale data centers planned for the same site. When fully built, Steffee believes the campus could generate 3,500 building and construction trades jobs. The site has what he describes as everything a major energy and data campus needs: a former coal facility with established infrastructure, a dedicated reservoir built in 1970 that already serves the site, the acreage to support large-scale development and access to Pennsylvania's enormous natural gas reserves.

Steffee described Homer City as a template he believes can be replicated across the region. Southwestern Pennsylvania has multiple former coal sites sitting on brownfield land away from residential areas, with existing infrastructure and water access, waiting to be repurposed. They are ready now, he stressed.

Addressing the Community Pushback

Steffee has attended town hall meetings where residents express opposition to data center development. The concerns he hears most often focus on water consumption and electricity prices. These are addressable with facts that are not being communicated clearly enough at the community level.

Regarding water use, Steffee said modern data centers use closed-loop water systems that circulate water rather than consuming it at the volumes opponents typically suggest. As he understands it, the Homer City Energy Campus has its own on-site reservoir. In his view, the water concern is being significantly overstated relative to the actual engineering reality of how these facilities operate.

When it comes to the potential that electricity rates increase, Steffee argued there is a misunderstanding about how these campuses are being structured. In his view, developments like Homer City are constructing their own dedicated power generation rather than drawing from the existing grid. Beyond that, he believes they plan to sell surplus power to the grid — increasing supply and putting downward pressure on prices. Building more power generation is, in his analysis, the only mechanism that actually lowers electricity costs over time. Reducing generation and retiring facilities while demand grows, he believes, has created the grid reliability problem now confronting the region.

He reserved particular frustration for the contradiction he observes at town hall meetings, where opponents arrive with smartphones, post AI-generated flyers that oppose data centers and search online for their talking points in real time. All this requires the data center infrastructure they are there to oppose, he said.

The Grid Reliability Warning

Steffee described the energy system in terms of upstream, midstream and downstream components that most people never think about. Upstream is extraction — fracking, mining and uranium. Midstream is transportation — pipelines, compressor stations, trucks and rail. Downstream is generation — power plants. From there, the electricity powers everything from manufacturing to mobile banking to everyday communications. Most public debate focuses on the downstream endpoint without understanding what it takes to get there or what happens when upstream and midstream investments stop, he said.

He pointed to a previous winter storm as an example. For four consecutive days, renewable energy sources — solar and wind — produced zero output. Coal, natural gas and nuclear carried the entire load for the area. Had the generation capacity from those sources been further reduced in line with the direction energy policy had been moving, Steffee said the storm would have produced blackouts rather than close calls. He said the numbers point to exactly that outcome if the build-out does not happen.

Nuclear on the Horizon, Natural Gas Right Now

Looking to the future, Steffee said small modular nuclear reactors are likely the long-term answer. Three Mile Island, near Pittsburgh, is under renovation to bring a unit back online, but with permitting, regulatory, materials and construction timelines related to nuclear power generation, meaningful production is likely 10 to 15 years away, he said. Natural gas is the bridge. In his view, it can be permitted, built and brought online in a few years. Pennsylvania has the second-largest natural gas deposits in North America, which are barely tapped. The combination of available resources, the existing workforce and abandoned industrial property makes southwestern Pennsylvania, in Steffee's view, one of the best-positioned places in the country to lead the national energy build-out.

He closed by pointing out that the boilermakers have been doing this work for 135 years. The politicians who told him his members needed to retrain for green energy and could not explain what that training would look like have mostly moved on. The boilermakers are still here — taking in apprentices, building power infrastructure and ready to build more. Everyone depends on reliable electricity, and everyone will benefit from building more of it, he said.

More information on Boilermakers Local 154 is available at boilermakerslocal154.com.

Go Behind the Scenes of the Labor Movement

Every victory at the bargaining table starts with workers standing together. From the shop floor to the statehouse, hear how activists are fighting for better wages, safer conditions and a stronger future. Subscribe to the America's Work Force Union Podcast to get the latest interviews with the leaders and organizers building worker power across America.