WHEREAS, energy is a fundamental part of our lives supporting everyday tasks such as feeding our families, commuting to work, and cooling our homes; and

WHEREAS, energy enriches our lives with lights at the baseball field, air conditioning at the theater, and rides at the state fair; and

WHEREAS, energy generates commerce and fuels economic growth; and

WHEREAS, energy sustains modern society’s complex systems including patient care, air traffic control, and industrial processes; and following a powerful storm, restoring energy supplies is the first step to returning normalcy to our homes and communities; and

WHEREAS, our All-American, All-of-the-Above energy plan aims to ensure Virginia has a reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy supply by utilizing natural gas, nuclear, renewables, and emerging energy sources to meet the power demands of a growing and thriving Virginia; and 

WHEREAS, energy-related industries create jobs for tens of thousands of Virginians ranging from line workers to engineers, customer service representatives to accountants, chemists to environmental scientists, power plant operators to energy analysts – all valuable and all essential; and

WHEREAS, energy-related industries need new workers to provide a bridge into the future, replace retiring workers, and maintain a highly skilled and talented workforce to meet the challenges of a growing economy; and

WHEREAS, Virginia’s clean energy transition requires a cutting-edge workforce prepared for new technologies including small modular nuclear reactors, hydrogen, wind, solar, and battery storage; and

WHEREAS, through strategic partnerships, the Virginia Energy Workforce Consortium strives to promote a unified and results-oriented effort to ensure residents find rewarding careers in energy so that Virginia can continue to prosper;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Glenn Youngkin, do hereby recognize October 21-25, 2024, as CAREERS IN ENERGY WEEK in the COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.