Leaders from the BlueGreen Alliance, a national partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations, sent a letter to President Biden and leaders in Congress urging them to use their leadership to find a path forward and pass the Build Back Better Act as soon as feasible.

At an event today, President Joe Biden outlined a new executive order (EO) designed to ensure Project Labor Agreements (PLAs)—collective bargaining agreements covering all of the craft workers on a construction project that provide comprehensive guidance and set mutual expectations for large projects—are required for federally funded projects over $35 million dollars. PLAs are considered the gold standard of labor provisions by most building trades unions.  

The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the America COMPETES Act. The bill makes various investments aimed at onshoring American manufacturing, creating jobs, and lowering industrial emissions.

BlueGreen Alliance Vice President of Legislation and Federal Affairs Jessica Eckdish testified at a virtual hearing of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis entitled “Manufacturing a Clean Energy Future: Climate Solutions Made in America.”

The Build Back Better Act (BBBA) will invest over $15 billion in economic development, growing renewable energy and energy efficiency in impacted communities, revitalizing American manufacturing, and targeting new jobs to workers dislocated by America’s energy shift.

The BlueGreen Alliance submitted comments in response to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration request for guidance on electric vehicle charging infrastructure deployment. The comments urge the Administration to ensure the programs incentivize and support the development of a robust domestic supply chain and skilled workforce for electric vehicle supply equipment; and facilitate community engagement strategies…

Vice President Kamala Harris today met with community members and workers in Milwaukee to learn more about the impact of lead service lines on the city. There are currently 70,000 lead service lines in Milwaukee that need to be replaced and the city will receive funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to advance that effort.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh today unveiled a new three part “Good Jobs” initiative. Under the new initiative, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will: increase information sharing for workers about issues like workers’ rights; engage employers on job quality and workforce development; and provide technical assistance and support to other federal agencies working to develop and attach job quality standards to their policies and programs—particularly as applies to the implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Buy Clean and Buy Fair policies promote spending taxpayer dollars on materials that are manufactured with high environmental and labor standards. This harnesses existing state spending to cut industrial carbon emissions and level the playing field for local and domestic manufacturers with responsible business practices that invest in reducing pollution. The Buy Clean and Buy…

The BlueGreen Alliance submitted comments outlining the pathways for the Federal Government to use its scale and procurement power to help achieve net-zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050 and launching the first-ever national Buy Clean initiative with the release of E.O. 14057, “Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability.”

This is a major first step to fulfill the promise of offshore wind in America. The introduction of large-scale offshore wind projects is overdue and will have a significant impact on the future of our energy systems. We applaud and thank the administration for not only promoting necessary clean energy projects, but for also ensuring that these projects lead to good-paying, unionized jobs that will directly support the communities they impact

The BlueGreen Alliance appreciates the opportunity to submit these comments in regard to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (“BOEM”) preparation of an Environmental Assessment (“EA”) under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) for the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area (“WEA”) to help determine whether to move forward with a future commercial wind lease issuance.