Join the BlueGreen Alliance
Help us identify ways to turn today’s environmental challenges into job-creating and economic opportunities!The BlueGreen Alliance in California has a strong local membership of labor, environmental, and community organizations working towards creating good jobs, while protecting our environment.
About the BlueGreen Alliance in California
The BlueGreen Alliance launched its state work in California, where the organization has passed several historic bills.
Our mission in the state has centered around promoting industrial decarbonization, clean energy transition, and ensuring high labor standards across new and evolving sectors. Since launching our initiatives in California, we’ve achieved significant legislative milestones, including the pioneering Buy Clean California Act, which set a precedent for environmentally responsible procurement practices nationwide.
For more information or to get involved with BGA’s efforts in California, please contact our State Policy Manager, Tamina Chowdhury, Ph.D., at tchowdhury@bluegreenalliance.org.
California State Table Partners:
- Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (co-chair)
- California Environmental Voters (co-chair)
- California Federation of Teachers
- California Labor Federation
- California State Association of Electrical Workers
- California State Pipe Trades Council
- Communications Workers of America
- Environmental Defense Fund
- International Brotherhood of Teamsters
- National Resources Defense Council
- Service Employees International Union
- Sierra Club
- Union of Concerned Scientists
- United Auto Workers
- United Steelworkers
Our Work
Buy Clean
In California, the BlueGreen Alliance played a pivotal role in the passage of the Buy Clean California Act, a landmark policy requiring state-funded projects to use materials with lower carbon footprints. This legislation, the first of its kind, showcases BGA’s commitment to merging environmental sustainability with the promotion of fair labor practices.
Following the success of the Buy Clean California Act, the BlueGreen Alliance has catalyzed a national movement, inspiring similar policies in states like Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Minnesota, and even at the federal level, underscoring the act’s significant impact on promoting sustainable practices across the United States.
Refinery Safety
A chemical release and fire at the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond threatened the lives of 19 workers and caused some 15,000 members of the surrounding community to seek medical attention. The incident exposed serious weaknesses in the state’s 24-year-old refinery safety regulations. It also created an opportunity for California to lead the nation in developing new approaches to regulating refineries that will benefit workers, neighboring communities, the state’s economy, and the industry itself.
Working with allies in labor, environmental, civic, and community organizations, the BlueGreen Alliance has focused on ensuring that proposed standards for refineries protect the workers and the communities around them.
Natural Gas Leaks
In California, the BlueGreen Alliance worked with labor unions and environmental organizations to help enact SB 1371, which compels the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) to improve leak identification, repair, and avoidance, as well as better account for the climate change impact of natural gas leaks in the state’s natural gas distribution systems.
“Utility workers are proud of the broad public interest coalition of unions, environmental groups and consumer and community interests that have come together to support this measure [SB 1371]. Being proactive in repairing and upgrading these vital pipes will benefit the environment and public safety while creating and sustaining good jobs for workers throughout the state.”
– Robert Hoffman, President of Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 132.
Key Facts
70% Registered Apprentices. In California, more than two-thirds of registered apprenticeships are occupied by people of color, showcasing the state's dedication to diversity and inclusion within these training programs. (Source)
40% Climate Investments. Less than half of the federal incentives to establish clean energy in California do not have workforce standards attached. (Source)
$12.7 billion Federal Funds . California is expected to receive these funds over the next four years, but they currently do not have workforce standards. (Source)
$9 billion Zero-Emission Vehicles. California will receive close to 10 billion dollars in federal funding to spur ZEV product manufacturing. However, 80% of this money is going to projects without any standards. (Source)
