Billy Lang is a commercial truck driver, medic, tree-trimmer, pole-climber, high-wire engineer, and whatever else it takes to keep the lights on.
Lang, 33, of New Milford, Connecticut, is a Class B Journeyman Lineman, one of about 120,000 who tend 450,000 miles of powerlines, 180 million utility poles, and 2.7 million transmission towers across the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
“It’s a great job if you don’t mind working outside and are comfortable with heights,” he said.
With electricity demand expected to increase by about a third in the coming decade, at least 20,000 more young linemen like Billy Lang are needed to build out the grid and upgrade outdated powerlines in virtually every town and neighborhood nationwide, projects the DOE’s 2024 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER)….