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The BlueGreen Alliance in Oregon has a strong local membership of labor, environmental, and community organizations working towards creating good jobs, while protecting our environment.
About the Oregon BlueGreen Alliance
The BlueGreen Alliance in Oregon has a local membership of labor, environmental, and community organizations working towards shared goals at the local and state levels. We seek to work together productively and proactively to advance solutions to climate change and other environmental challenges in ways that create and maintain quality jobs and that build a stronger, fairer economy.
Steering Committee Members:
- AFSCME 75
- ATU 757
- Climate Solutions
- IBEW 48
- IBEW 125
- IBEW 932
- Oregon AFL-CIO
- Oregon Environmental Council
- Oregon Building and Construction Trades Council
- SEIU 503
- Sierra Club, Oregon Chapter
- USW 12
- Verde
For more information on our work, contact Ranfis Giannettino Villatoro at rvillatoro@bluegreenalliance.org.
Our Work
Programmatic Work
BGA worked with Oregon AFL-CIO to put together the Oregon Labor Climate Summit, an event that brought together union members from diverse sectors across the state to discuss the climate imperative and explore ways to protect workers, address climate, and promote union jobs. Topics this year included:
- Oregon: Challenges in Climate Resiliency
- Oregon Offshore Wind
- Clean Transportation and Renewable Fuels
Legislation
100% Oregon Clean Energy Opportunities (HB 2021, 2021)
BGA joined environmental justice organizations, environmental policy organizations, industry, and investor-owned utilities to set a 100% Clean Energy target for 2040 with an 80% emissions reduction goal by 2030. Additionally, BlueGreen Alliance was instrumental in working with labor, utilities, and renewable energy groups to develop some of the strongest renewable energy project labor standards in the country:
- Requires contractors to be registered apprenticeship training agents
- Requires contractors to hire apprentices, making up at least 15% of their workforce
- Set a goal to recruit, hire, and retain women, BIPOC, veterans, and disabled workers, while instituting anti-harassment policies
- Requires contractors to demonstrate a history of compliance with state and federal laws
- Requires contractors to pay prevailing wages and offer health and retirement benefits
- Makes project labor agreements (PLA) standard practice for new renewable energy projects
Buy Clean (HB 4131, 2022)
Passed with bipartisan support in the House and Senate, Buy Clean is a procurement tool that aims to promote less carbon-intensive materials by requiring contractors to submit Environmental Product Declarations for steel, cement, and asphalt products used in transportation projects. The legislation also creates a technical advisory committee that will identify ways to lower the carbon footprint in transportation projects and potentially add materials over time.
BGA worked with USW 12, Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), Oregon Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association (OCAPA), and Asphalt Pavement Association of Oregon (APAO).
Clean Energy Career Opportunities: Refinement Bill (HB 4059, 2022)
BGA worked with IBEW State Association (Oregon), Oregon Southern Idaho District Council of Laborers (OSIDCL), Renewable NW (RNW), Northwest & Intermountain Power Producers Coalition (NIPPC), and Oregon Solar + Storage Installers Association (OSSIA) to update and refine labor standards in HB 2021 (2021). Legislation updated the Oregon prevailing wage definition, added clarity on PLA’s meeting minimum standards, and clarified the “good faith effort” clause in reporting PLA submission to the Oregon PUC.
Key Facts