March, 27 2009, 02:35pm EDT
Labor Unions, Environmental Organizations Urge Passage of Climate Change Legislation in 2009
Blue Green Alliance Releases Principles for Cap-and-Trade Legislation Necessary to Put Americans Back to Work
WASHINGTON
Four labor unions and two environmental organizations today
announced their support for comprehensive cap-and-trade climate change
legislation in 2009. The Blue Green Alliance, which includes the
Natural Resources Defense Council, said this legislation is an
effective way to rapidly put millions of Americans back to work
building a clean energy economy and to reduce global warming emissions
to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
You can read the policy statement online at https://docs.nrdc.org/globalWarming/files/glo_09032601a.pdf.
"This
agreement is one more sign of the growing consensus around the urgency
of action on climate change," said Frances Beinecke, President of the
Natural Resources Defense Council. "Environmentalists and labor groups
are working together, standing side-by-side, and presenting a path
forward for strong action on global warming that will repower our
economy and protect our planet's future."
The Blue Green
Alliance supports a reduction of U.S. emissions by at least 80 percent
from 1990 levels by 2050, and supports a renewed U.S. effort to forge a
global treaty to reduce worldwide emissions by 50 percent by that same
date. To meet these goals, domestic climate change legislation should
reduce U.S. emissions significantly below 2005 levels by 2020, with
individual partners advocating targets ranging from 14 to 25 percent.
"We
believe that climate change legislation is a critical step to
jumpstarting the U.S. economy," said Leo Gerard, International
President of the United Steelworkers. "And we agree that the U.S. must
significantly reduce our emissions, something we can accomplish by
retaining and creating millions of family-sustaining green jobs in the
clean energy economy."
The labor-environmental
partnership also said climate change legislation must address several
critical issues. Job loss from international competition can be avoided
with allowance allocations to energy-intensive industries and
border-adjustment mechanisms. Rising energy costs to low- and
moderate-income Americans and adversely-impacted regions can be offset
with rebates or tax credits. The Alliance also supports complementary
regulation, including standards for renewable energy, energy efficiency
resources and fuel and appliance efficiency.
In
addition, climate change legislation should include investments in a
wide range of technologies - including carbon, capture and
sequestration technology - and federal financing for the transition to
a clean energy economy.
"Meeting the challenge to tackle
climate change will allow us to build a clean energy economy right here
in the United States - making the parts for wind and solar power and
fuel efficient vehicles are just some examples," said Jim Clark,
President of IUE-CWA, the Industrial Division of the Communications
Workers of America. "The economic and climate crises afford us an
opportunity to create good, middle-class green jobs."
"We
can choose a new direction for our country - making a clean energy
economy the foundation for putting people back to work building
America," said Terence M. O'Sullivan, General President of the
Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA). "We have the
workers and the skills, and now we need action to build on the green
programs of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."
The
consensus reached by the Blue Green Alliance partners also said that
allowances should be auctioned or used for public purposes and that the
legislation should link its solutions to a broad agenda for economic
opportunities that engages high-unemployment communities first and
funds training and transition needs.
"We have a unique
opportunity to be part of the solution and to improve the lives of
working people and their families for generations to come," said Gerry
Hudson, International Executive Vice President of SEIU. "It is our duty
to ensure that legislation develops a cap-and-trade system that
connects environmental justice to economic justice in a way that
supports communities across America and creates good, green jobs."
Finally,
BGA partners said that climate change legislation should help to fund a
clean energy economic development model for developing and emerging
economies and fund adaptation measures that provide solutions to those
immediately impacted by global warming both domestically and
internationally.
"We share the common goal that climate
change legislation is necessary to confront our greatest economic and
environmental challenges," said Carl Pope, Executive Director of the
Sierra Club. "Standing together to advocate legislation that
aggressively reduces U.S. emissions while creating good jobs is
essential to building a broad consensus in this country around a clean
energy economy."
"The significance of this statement
cannot be overstated," said David Foster, Executive Director of the
Blue Green Alliance. "For the first time, a substantial number of
unions representing workers across a broad section of the American
economy have endorsed the principle that the way out of our current
economic turmoil is through major investments in solving global
warming. The labor and environmental movements have truly embraced a
common vision for the future."
NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
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Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
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U.S. workers' rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khansaid "keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism."
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As Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Heidi Shierholz explained, "Noncompete agreements are employment provisions that ban workers at one company from working for, or starting, a competing business within a certain period of time after leaving a job."
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Demand Progress' Emily Peterson-Cassin similarly commended the commission "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
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Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
In Monday's decision, U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs—an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama—sided with the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute and Action NC, who argued that the 1877 law discriminated against Black people.
"The challenged statute was enacted with discriminatory intent, has not been cleansed of its discriminatory taint, and continues to disproportionately impact Black voters," Biggs wrote in her 25-page ruling.
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As similar battles play out in other states, Democratic U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont in December introduced legislation to end former felon disenfranchisement in federal elections and guarantee incarcerated people the right to vote.
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