A $14.46 million waterline to help Lordstown, particularly Ultium Cells, as well as $7.74 million for four projects in Mahoning County, are among the earmarks requested for the Mahoning Valley from the two U.S. House members who represent the area.

The Lordstown project would make improvements to the village’s water distribution system by replacing its Pritchard-Ohltown Road water station and installing a redundant 24-inch waterline from Meander Reservoir.

The line would provide water — as well as a backup in case the existing line goes down — primarily for the Ultium Cells battery plant and much of the village, Mayor Arno Hill said.

The $14.46 million Lordstown earmark is the only one for Trumbull County on U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce’s list of 15 for his congressional district. Trumbull is the second most-populous county in Joyce’s district, behind Lake.

The Lordstown earmark is, by far, the largest earmark requested by Joyce, R-Bainbridge, with the second largest being $6,757,500 for a new fire station building in Hambden, a small township in Geauga County.

“We selected a variety of projects from across the district based on compliance with House Appropriations Committee’s criteria for project funding and benefit to the community,” said Joyce, an appropriations committee member.

Since earmarks, also referred to as community projects, were returned in Congress two years ago, an overwhelming majority of the requests from its members have received full funding.

In Mahoning County, U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, is seeking $7.74 million in earmarks.

That includes $2.5 million each for Flying HIGH Inc., a Youngstown-based nonprofit to help with infrastructure needed for housing development in the county, and for the Mahoning Valley Community School in Youngstown to build a 20,000-square-foot addition.

Mahoning is the most-populous county in Johnson’s district.

Johnson also requested $2.1 million for the city of Youngstown to replace about two miles of deteriorating combined storm and sanitary sewers and $640,000 for Campbell to clean up 46 acres of a former industrial area for economic development.

“My job is to advocate for the interests of the people I represent,” Johnson said. “If the House is going to move forward with these targeted appropriations” then “it’s my responsibility to make sure the taxpayers of Ohio’s 6th District don’t get left out of the process. The projects I’ve submitted all have broad community support, stakeholder financial commitment and demonstrate a genuine need for them.”

EARMARKS ARE BACK

Johnson initially was opposed to the return of earmarks, but said the process now is “much more transparent than the old earmark system, where legislators, behind closed doors, would attach pet projects to bills. The House should never return to doing business by way of random earmarks.”

House Democrats announced in 2021 they would bring back earmarks that were eliminated in 2011 when Republicans took control of the House. Before the ban, opponents said earmarks were abused and had little oversight.

House Democrats changed the rules when they brought back earmarks with members required to make the projects public beforehand and include an explanation for each proposal. The number of earmarks was restricted. The earmarks limit in 2021 was 10 and was increased a year later to 15.

With Republicans regaining control of the House this year, they decided to keep the earmarks with the same rules as before and kept the limit at 15 per member.

LORDSTOWN PROPOSAL

The installation of a second 24-inch waterline from Meander Reservoir is vital to the continued growth and economic stability of Lordstown, Hill said.

A 3-million-gallon water tank was built north of Ultium Cells to better serve the battery plant and the rest of the village as businesses come to it, Hill said.

The $14.46 million waterline runs parallel to an existing 24-inch line and will provide more water to the village and ensure that if there’s a problem with one line, there is a backup, he said.

“The waterline will have the biggest benefit for the battery plant,” Hill said. “We have significant water users in the village that if the current line goes down, we’d be hurt. It also helps businesses and residents with higher flows and higher pressure.”

The village’s water consumption over the past seven years has increased from about 300,000 gallons per day to nearly 6 million daily, according to Joyce’s office.

The new line “could bring more business to the village,” Hill said. “When businesses want to develop, they look at rail and roads and at the availability of water, gas and sewer. This is exciting news for the village. Dave Joyce has been a good friend to Lordstown even before we were in his district.”

Congressional redistricting put all of Trumbull County in Joyce’s district starting in January. He previously had only the upper portion in his district.

It’s the same for Johnson, who has represented all of Mahoning County since January. Before that, he represented a smaller part of the county.

Joyce submitted the maximum 15 projects for funding for a total request of $56,914,784.

The Lordstown project makes up more than 25 percent of his overall request.

MAHONING PROPOSALS

Among Johnson’s 15 funding requests are four for Mahoning, the most-populous county in his district.

His proposals total $30,094,755 with the four from Mahoning being $7.74 million, more than 25 percent of his overall request.

Johnson is seeking $2.5 million for Flying HIGH Inc. for the nonprofit to “provide the infrastructure needed for housing development in ‘high opportunity areas’ in the Mahoning Valley. The project is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds as it will provide local residents with affordable workforce housing, develop high-quality transit accessibility to and from these housing areas and job creation for unemployed or underemployed individuals seeking careers in the trades,” according to a letter he wrote to Appropriations Committee leaders.

A $2.5 million request has been turned in for the Mahoning Valley Community School in Youngstown, which serves at-risk students in the county in grades 7 to 12.

The funding would be to construct a 20,000-square-foot community learning center addition that would include a gymnasium that would be open to the community in the evenings and on weekends.

The addition also would include a cafeteria, media center, childcare facility, two classrooms for workforce development and a health clinic, Jennifer Merritt, the school’s superintendent, said.

“It’s a way to connect the school to the community and build that relationship,” she said. “We’re hoping to expand our services and offer more to our community and our students.”

Johnson requested $2 million for the city of Youngstown to replace about two miles of deteriorating combined storm and sanitary sewer lines along the Mahoning River.

The project would eliminate three combined sewer overflows that discharge about 35.5 million gallons of combined sewage annually into the Mahoning River, according to Johnson.

It will increase the size of the sewer pipe to add storage capacity, minimize future overflows and help with the city’s long-term control plan, Johnson said.

“It will eliminate overflows into the river,” said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works. “It’s good project for the city.”

CAMPBELL EFFORT

Johnson is seeking $640,000 for Campbell to assess and cleanup 46 acres of brownfields along the Mahoning River in a former industrial area in order to revitalize it and stimulate economic growth, Johnson said.

The acreage is part of property that used to house industrial mills and is currently owned by Sherman International Corp. of Pittsburgh.

In total, there are 111 acres on the site with 37 of them remediated in October 2013 that have sat idle since then, Campbell Mayor Bryan Tedesco said.

The city wants to buy the rest of the site and clean it of petroleum contaminants left after the mills closed in the 1970s and early 1980s, Tedesco said.

The eventual goal, Tedesco said, is shopping centers, entertainment venues, restaurants, apartments and businesses at the location.