Rep. Summer Lee Celebrates Opening of Landforce’s Responsible Wood Production Facility in Pittsburgh’s East End
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PITTSBURGH, PA – OCTOBER 3, 2025 — Today, Congresswoman Summer L. Lee (PA-12) joined Landforce, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, and community partners to cut the ribbon on Landforce’s new Responsible Wood Production Facility in Pittsburgh’s East End. The event featured remarks from elected officials, a ceremonial sawmill demonstration, and a facility tour highlighting how the project will expand green jobs and workforce training opportunities while reducing waste and cutting carbon emissions.
“Today we celebrate a facility that represents a vision for Pittsburgh where climate justice and economic justice go hand in hand,” said Rep. Lee. “The Landforce Responsible Wood Production facility is proof that when we invest in our communities, we can create good-paying jobs and provide opportunities for people too often locked out of stable work, all while protecting our environment. I’m proud to stand with Landforce and all of the incredible partners who made this project possible. Together, we’re showing the country what it looks like to build a future that is sustainable, equitable, and rooted in community.”
The Responsible Wood Production Facility—known as The Mill—is Landforce’s newest initiative. Anchored in a 10,000-square-foot site in Pittsburgh’s East End, The Mill reclaims and repurposes fallen or salvaged urban trees, transforming what would otherwise be landfill waste into high-quality lumber, pallet parts, tree stakes, firewood, and biochar. The project represents the next chapter for Landforce, a nonprofit that since 2015 has combined environmental stewardship with workforce readiness for people who often experience hiring biases, including individuals impacted by poverty, housing instability, and the criminal legal system.
With support from the EPA, state and federal grants, and major philanthropic foundations, Landforce has invested nearly $2 million to bring the facility to life. Over the next three years alone, The Mill will pull 381 metric tons of fallen trees out of the waste stream, mill 5,200 board feet of lumber, and produce 56 metric tons of biochar—all while removing an estimated 214 metric tons of CO2e from the atmosphere.
At its core, The Mill is also a classroom. Crew Members train in advanced manufacturing, arboriculture support, blueprint reading, and equipment operation, gaining industry-recognized certifications such as OSHA safety, chainsaw safety, and defensive driving. This training, paired with career coaching and wraparound support, opens pathways into stable, family-sustaining employment in manufacturing, landscaping, and green industries.
The opening of The Mill marks a milestone for PA-12 as Western Pennsylvania continues to lead on climate resilience and inclusive economic development.
Congresswoman Summer Lee serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Education and Workforce. Since taking office in January 2023, she has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $2.4 Billion brought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs. Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 3,000 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.