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Blog / Infrastructure and Community Resilience

Building Clean: Improving Efficiency, Health, and Equity in Housing and Creating Good Jobs

When buildings are designed, built, and maintained to protect the health of people and the environment—and if the manufacturing of building products and materials create good-paying union jobs in the U.S.—then the wellbeing of people and communities will improve, especially for people of color. Building Clean works to increase the use of building products that are more efficient, less toxic, and manufactured in the U.S. We aim to improve the physical, environmental, and economic health of communities and promote a more equitable future for all.

Policy Priorities / Clean Economy Union Jobs

Solidarity for Climate Action: The Plan We Need to Get American Manufacturing Back on Track

Manufacturing towns dot the nation, and advanced manufacturing helps provide the foundation for the economy in major regions of the United States. Industries like the steel and automotive industries supported good-paying jobs, middle-class families, and prosperous communities for decades, while also spurring American leadership in innovation and technology. That’s still true in some areas. But in many others, factories have closed or new industries offer jobs that all too often are poorly paid, insecure, or unsafe.

All Updates & Resources

Blog / Equity and Healthy and Safe Communities

New Report Card on Infrastructure Shows Dire Need to Build Back Better

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) releases a Report Card grading the nation’s infrastructure from “A” to “F.” In 2017, the Infrastructure Report Card remained stagnant at a “D+”— the same grade the United States received in 2013. The current year’s report incrementally improved to a “C- ” scorecard— five categories increased and just one category decreased in their benchmarks. This improvement, however marginal, is the first time the metric has risen out of the D range in 20 years. Nonetheless, the report once again plainly demonstrates that America’s infrastructure is falling apart at the seams and we are not making long-term strides to fix the basic systems we rely on for clean water, energy, to communicate with each other, or to get from place to place. 

BlueGreen Alliance Welcomes Introductions of RECLAIM Act in the U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) today introduced the RECLAIM Act and a bill to reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Lands reclamation fee. The RECLAIM Act would commit existing funds to clean up abandoned coal mines and spur economic development and diversification in impacted communities. In response to the bill introduction, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh:

Workers' Rights

PRO Act Crucial to Protecting the Rights of Workers, Growing Thriving, Equitable Economy

The United States House of Representatives today passed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The PRO Act is designed to ensure workers can band together to negotiate better wages and safer working conditions by ending prohibitions on collective and class action litigation; prohibiting employers from permanently replacing striking employees; and amending how employees are defined to ensure that no one is misclassified as an independent contractor. In addition, it would strengthen remedies and enforcement for employees who are exercising their rights; create a mediation and arbitration process for new unions; protect against captive audience meetings; and streamline National Labor Relations Board procedures.

The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Joins BlueGreen Alliance

The BlueGreen Alliance today announced The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) has joined its national partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations. The announcement comes at a vital time as the Biden administration and Congress are focusing on how investments in infrastructure will fuel America’s economic recovery, fight economic and racial injustice, and reduce the emissions driving climate change.

Letters / Clean and Electric Vehicle Manufacturing

30 Groups Express Support for Sustaining and Strengthening DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program

Strong domestic manufacturing must be an essential part of our climate solutions. And programs and policies that help rebuild and retool our factories to make the technologies of the future will be essential to ensuring a climate and economic recovery agenda that goes hand in hand with rebuilding good jobs and hard-hit communities. The ATVM…

CLEAN Future Act Makes Strides to Building Clean Economy that Works for All

U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Chair Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), and Energy Subcommittee Chair Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) today released the Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s (CLEAN) Future Act of 2021. The bill includes a target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions across our economy by 2050 and language requiring strong labor standards in the clean economy, assistance for communities impacted by the changing energy mix and deindustrialization, and funding for clean technology manufacturing. In response to the introduction of the bill, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh.

Letters / Chemical Safety

BlueGreen Alliance urges withdrawal of a proposed rule regarding the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards

On January 6, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) posted a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would remove 49 explosive chemicals from Appendix A of the Chemical Facility Anti- Terrorism Standard (CFATS). CISA explains that the intent of their proposal is to reduce the regulatory and compliance burden…

Clean Economy Union Jobs

American Rescue Plan Provides Much Needed Relief

The U.S. House of Representatives today passed President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that includes funding for schools, state and local governments vaccine distribution, enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, and extended unemployment insurance, as well as other items. In response the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh:

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