WASHINGTON, DC (April 17, 2013) – The BlueGreen Alliance honored Senator Sherrod Brown (OH), Congressman Bobby Rush (IL-1), and the BlueGreen Alliance’s Deputy Director Yvette Pena Lopes with the Blue Green Alliance Green Jobs Champion Award for their outstanding achievements and tireless advocacy creating the good, green jobs that are moving America to a clean economy, while ensuring we continue to address climate change.

“Without outspoken leaders who are confronting the costs of climate change and expanding the clean economy like Senator Brown and Congressman Rush in Congress, we would not be where we are today,” said David Foster, Executive Director of the BlueGreen Alliance. “Their important work on vehicle fuel efficiency standards and protecting public health is having a tremendous impact well beyond their own constituencies.”

Implementing the highest fuel efficiency standards in a generation, rising American-made clean energy manufacturing and more advanced vehicles on the road are all a testament to Senator Brown’s leadership. Working alongside both union and environmental leaders, he has helped expand the resources available to manufacturers that want to transition into the clean economy.

All Americans have benefited from Congressman Rush’s work raising awareness about a range of chemicals that consumers encounter every day, and for being a tireless advocate for cleaner air and protecting public health. Congressman Rush has leveraged his position on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Power to elevate the issue of climate change and draw national attention to how we can best deploy renewable energy.

“We need more in Congress like Senator Brown and Congressman Rush to lead the way in the fight to combat climate change,” Foster added. “After all, climate change is real, it is accelerated by human actions, and if we fail to preempt its frightening costs we will imperil our economic future.”

The Green Jobs Champion Award is given once a year around the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference, the nation’s premier gathering of labor, environmental and business leaders to share ideas and strategies about how to build a clean, efficient economy, address climate change, and create good jobs at the same time.