Hill Heat

Hearing page

Witness:

• Marty Walsh, Secretary, Department of Labor

The FY 2023 request for the Department of Labor (DOL or Department) is $14.6 billion in discretionary budget authority and 16,922 full-time equivalent employees (FTE), with additional mandatory funding and FTE.

The Budget requests a $100 million investment for DOL’s role in the new multi-agency POWER+ Initiative, which aims to assist displaced workers and transform communities transitioning away from fossil fuel production to new, sustainable industries. Furthering the Administration’s emphasis on addressing climate change by creating opportunities for workers in America, the Budget requests $20 million to pilot the Civilian Climate Corps, in partnership other Federal agencies, which will fund paid work experiences, preapprenticeship programs, and RA programs for youth in industries and jobs related to climate resilience and mitigation.

The request also provides the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) $10 million for a new program, developed in collaboration with VETS and the Department of Veterans Affairs, focused on helping veterans shift to careers in clean energy, which would help combat climate change while preparing veterans for good-paying jobs.

The request also includes an increase of nearly $44 million for the Mine Safety and Health Administration focused on restoring its capabilities in enforcement and mine plan and equipment reviews. This increased funding will help ensure miners’ health and safety amid a projected increase in workload stemming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

THE CLIMATE JOBS SUMMIT

Live video

AGENDA SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

9:30 AM Welcome, Purpose, and Review of the Day

• Gary LaBarbara, President, Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York and New York State Building and Construction Trades Council & Climate Jobs NY
• Michael Fishman, President and Executive Director, Climate Jobs National Resource Center

Opening Lightning Round: Messages from Labor and Allies on How to Ensure Good Jobs In Clean Energy Industries

• Maulian Dana, Tribal Ambassador, Penobscot Nation
• Eric Dean, General President International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental & Reinforcing Iron Workers (IW)
• Lily Gardner, Sunrise Movement member
• Aliya Haq, Vice President, U.S. Policy and Advocacy, Breakthrough Energy
• Becky Pringle, President, National Education Association (NEA)
• Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

CJNRC Video

10:15 AM Ali Zaidi, Deputy White House National Climate Advisor

10:30 AM American Jobs Plan: Impact & Opportunities for Clean Energy and Good Jobs

• Moderator: Lara Skinner, Director, Labor Leading on Climate Initiative, Worker Institute at Cornell University ILR School
• Marilyn Brown, Director, Georgia Tech, Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory
• John Cartwright, President, Toronto/York Labour Council (Retired)
• John Doherty, Special Assistant to the General President, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)
• John Podesta, Founder and Chair of the Board of Directors, Center for American Progress (CAP)
• Chris Shelton, President, Communication Workers of America (CWA)

12:00 PM Break

12:15 PM Equity and Good Jobs in a Clean Economy: State Strategies for Winning Labor Standards and Equity in Opportunity

• Moderator: Vincent Alvarez, President, New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO & Climate Jobs NY
• Priscilla De La Cruz, Senior Director, Government Affairs at Audubon Society of Rhode Island, President of the Environment Council of Rhode Island, Co-host Climate Jobs Illinois
• Aziz Dehkan, Executive Director and Lead Organizer, Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs
• Pat Devaney, Secretary-Treasurer, Illinois AFL-CIO & Climate Jobs Illinois
• Cynthia Phinney, President, Maine State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
• Melissa Shetler, Executive Director, Pathways to Apprenticeship

1:45 PM Two Concurrent Panel Discussions:

Building Carbon Free and Healthy Schools

• Moderator: Nikki Budzinski, Advisor, Climate Jobs National Resource Center
• Joseph Bryant, President, Service Employees International Union, Local 1021 (SEIU)
• Seanelle Leesang, Science Teacher, IS 68 Brooklyn, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)
• JP Patafio, Bus Operator/VP Transportation Workers Union Local 100 (TWU) & Climate Jobs NY
• Anil Singh, 2021 NYC public schools graduate, Sunrise Movement member
• Justin Thompson, Senior Policy Analyst, National Education Association (NEA)
• Gina Walsh, Deputy Director of Heat and Frost Insulators Cooperative Trust & Climate Jobs Illinois Executive Board

Building a Robust, Equitable Offshore Wind Industry in the U.S.

• Moderator: Lee Smith, Managing Member, American Solar Partners (ASP)
• Hae-Lin Choi, New York State Political Director, Communications Workers of America District 1 (CWA)
• Doreen Harris, President and Chief Executive Officer, NY Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
• Eric Hines, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University
• David Langlais, Business Manager, Iron Workers Local 137 (IW)
• Amanda Lefton, Director, Bureau Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM)
• Grant Provost, Business Agent, Iron Workers Local 7 (IW)

3:15 PM Secretary Marty Walsh, U.S. Department of Labor

3:40 PM Liz Shuler, President, AFL-CIO

3:50 PM Closing and Call to Action

Kyle Bragg, President, Service Employees International Union, 32BJ (SEIU) & Climate Jobs NY

4:00 PM Adjourn

On June 24th, the BlueGreen Alliance released “Solidarity for Climate Action”, a compendium of labor and environmental principles with the goal of achieving net-zero carbon pollution by 2050 in line with the Green New Deal vision.

Several union leaders associated with the fossil-fuel industry have responded to the call for a Green New Deal with skepticism or hostility, despite its emphasis on full employment and a unionized workforce; the work of the BlueGreen Alliance represents the viewpoint of another side of labor movement. The opening lines of the document emphasize the importance of collaboration as much as the end result:

“The BlueGreen Alliance and its labor and environmental partners are committed to the vision, principles, and policies outlined in this document, and are committed to a process of working together to identify concrete solutions to achieve these goals.”

The high-level vision document was unveiled at a presentation featuring Mike Williams of the BlueGreen Alliance, Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers, and the National Wildlife Federation’s Collin O’Mara.

The members of the Alliance include the environmental organizations Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Union of Concerned Scientists, Environmental Defense Action Fund, League of Conservation Voters, and the National Wildlife Federation; and the labor unions United Steelworkers, Communication Workers of America, Service Employees International Union, International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), Utility Workers Union of America, American Federation of Teachers, United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA), and the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC).

This effort echoes The Leap Manifesto and the platform of the European Green Party, though with less ambition.

Download “Solidarity for Climate Action” or read the text below:

Senate Finance Committee member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and House Energy and Commerce Committee member Jay Inslee, D-Wash., will join Laborers’ International Union general president Terence O’Sullivan, Sierra Club political director Cathy Duvall, and clean energy business leaders and workers for a news conference on Tuesday, February 3 at 11 a.m. ET at the United States Capitol to urge Congressional leaders to take bold action to create a new Green American Dream for working people by making sure the newly created green jobs are good jobs that can sustain families and fuel economic recovery.

Speakers will release a new report analyzing the varied quality of existing green jobs (some paying as little as $8.25 an hour), and urge Congress to take bold action to ensure that the major public investments in Congress’ economic recovery and reinvestment plan create a green economy that rebuilds the middle class and renews the American Dream for America’s workers.

The report release comes a day before hundreds of labor, environmental and business advocates go to Capitol Hill — on Wednesday, February 4 — for Green Jobs Advocacy Day to educate lawmakers about the job-creating opportunities that exist in the green economy.

Participants

• Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
• Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash.
• Terence O’Sullivan, general pres., LIUNA
• Cathy Duvall, political dir., Sierra Club
• Michael Peck, dir. Human Resources, Gamesa
• Dennis Wilde, Gerding Edlen Development
• David Foster, exec. dir., Blue Green Alliance
• Perrette Hopkins, trainee, Garden State Alliance for a New Economy

From the Wonk Room.

President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly completed his Cabinet with the selection of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) as Secretary of Labor. Solis, a five-term representative from East Los Angeles, is a progressive leader in the fight for green jobs, as both a “stalwart friend of the unions” and the author of the first environmental justice law in the nation. At this summer’s National Clean Energy Summit, convened by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Solis spoke about her commitment to solving global warming through a clean energy economy for all:

Our nation is at a crossroads right now. We can choose to transition to a clean energy economy that secures our energy supply and combats climate change or we can continue down the same old path of uncertainty and insecurity that we’re currently in. Current economic conditions, particularly for under-served, under-represented minority communities underscore the need to transition to clean energy technology.

Watch it:

The Green Jobs Act authored by Solis and passed into law as part of the 2007 energy bill was not funded at all. Green For All and the Center for American Progress are calling for full funding of this legislation.

From the Wonk Room.

Yesterday, the Center for American Progress released Green Recovery, a new report by Dr. Robert Pollin and University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute economists. This report demonstrates how a new Green Recovery program that invests $100 billion over two years would create 2 million new jobs, with a significant proportion in the struggling construction and manufacturing sectors. It is clear from this research that a strategy to invest in the greening of our economy will create more jobs, and better jobs, compared to continuing to pursue a path of inaction marked by rising dependence on fossil fuel billionaires.

To create 2 million new jobs within two years, the overall level of fiscal expansion will need to be around $100 billion, or roughly the same as the portion of the April 2008 stimulus program that was targeted at expanding household consumption. This green economic recovery program will create more jobs and better paying jobs. If Congress were to decide as part of a domestic oil production and gas price reduction effort to spend $100 billion on new oil and gas subsidies and subsidizing gasoline and oil prices, only a quarter as many jobs would be created:

A coalition of corporations, labor, religious and environmental organizations has announced its support of Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-CA) manager’s mark of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. Several are members of the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), which called for mandatory climate legislation in January 2007, but more recently has been wrapped in internal conflict.

The letter begins:

The undersigned companies and organizations urge you to vote in favor of the Climate Security Act, S. 3036 (formerly S. 2191), which is expected to be considered by the full Senate beginning June 2. This is a very important vote on a bipartisan plan to address climate change. Prompt action on climate change is essential to protect America’s economy, security, quality of life and natural environment.

USCAP signatories are Alcoa, Environmental Defense Action Fund, Exelon Corporation, FPL Group, General Electric, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, NRG Energy, Inc, and PG&E Corporation. Non-USCAP signatories are Calpine Corporation, Interfaith Power and Light Campaign, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Izaak Walton League of America, National Grid, National Parks Conservation Association, Pew Environment Group, Public Service Enterprise Group, Trout Unlimited, and the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting (UA).

Full text is below:

Real progress on climate change issues requires new, manageable policy. It’s time to get to work. The Climate Policy Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together is 2008’s must attend conference for those looking for straight talk on U.S. policy developments.

Join A&WMA, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. (R-UT), and ranking representatives from the environmental community in Arlington, VA April 2-3, 2008 for a climate change event that breaks new ground.

Get down to business on positions, perspectives and predictions with issue-leaders from:

• Natural Resources Defense Council (USCAP)
• 3M Corp.
• Duke University
• Environmental Defense Fund (USCAP)
• Hogan & Hartson
• U.S Environmental Protection Agency
• Clean Air Institute Asia
• UK Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• The U.S. Department of Energy
• The Electric Power Research Institute
• The United Mine Workers of America
• U.S. DOE’s National Energy Technology Lab
• The American Petroleum Institute
• The World Resources Institute (USCAP)
• The Center for Clean Air Policy
• Analysis Group, Inc.
• Edison Electric Institute
• DTE Energy
• Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment
• ES&P LLC
• Environmental Council of the States
• National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA)
• Utah Department of Environmental Quality
• RTP Environmental Associates, Inc.
• Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District
• Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
• Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
• Arizona Public Service
• The LEVON Group
• The Energy and Resources Institute, North America (TERI NA)
• Pew Center for Global Climate Change (USCAP)

Marriott Crystal City Gateway
1700 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202
Phone: 703-920-3230
Fax: 703-271-5212

To register, download the registration form and return it with your payment to:

Registrar, Air & Waste Management Association
420 Fort Duquesne Blvd., 3rd Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-1435 USA
Fax: 412-232-3450
Phone: 412-232-3444

Important Note! The advance registration deadline was extended from March 10 to March 17.

Refund Policy:

If written notice of cancellation is received on or before March 19, 2008, payment will be refunded, less a $75 cancellation fee. (Cancellation fees apply regardless of payment method). Substitutions may be made at any time; payment for any difference is due at the time of substitution. This refund policy applies to all occurrences, including weather-related events and other natural disasters. In the unlikely occurrence of event cancellation, the Association is not liable for any expenses incurred by the registrant other than the full refund of registration fee(s) paid.

Continuing Education Credit Opportunities:

Conference attendees may be eligible for continuing education credit. For more information, please contact Autumn Secrest, Programs Coordinator, at 412-232-3444 ext. 6031, or [email protected].

Conference Committee:

Conference Co-chairs:

• William J. Palermo, PE, Principal, RTP Environmental Associates, Inc.
• John S. Seitz, Partner, ES&P, LLC

Organizing Committee Members:

• A. Gwen Eklund, Director, Power, TRC
• Peter F. Hess, PE, DEE, QEP
• Miriam Lev-On, Executive Director, The LEVON Group, LLC
• C. V. Mathai, Ph.D., QEP, Manager for Environmental Policy, Arizona Public Service
• Jim Pfeiffer, Environmental Advisor, Air Quality, BP Exploration (Alaska), Inc.
• Jayne M. Somers, Program Manager, U.S. EPA Climate Change Division
• Richard W. Sprott, Executive Director, Utah Department of Environmental Quality
• C. Flint Webb, Project Manager, SAIC

The 2008 Investor Summit on Climate Risk will bring together more than 450 institutional investors, Wall Street leaders and CEOs from around the world to consider the scale and urgency of climate change risks, as well as the economic opportunities of a global transition to a clean energy future.

Purpose

The purpose of the Summit is to provide a high-level forum for state treasurers, leading institutional investors, and financial services firms from around the world to consider the scale and urgency of climate change risks, as well as the economic opportunities of a global transition to a clean energy future.

Objectives

Based on a vision of hope and opportunity, the Summit will focus on how investors can advance solutions to climate change, with a particular emphasis on the benefits of energy efficiency. The Summit aims to help investors:

• Examine recent scientific findings on climate risk and technological solutions
• Assess potential capital flows into energy efficiency and clean technologies
• Learn how treasurers, institutional investors and financial services firms worldwide are factoring climate risk into their policies and strategies
• Consider prudent steps investors can take to address climate risk and opportunities

Background

The 2008 Summit builds on the groundbreaking success of the first two UN Investor Summits on November 21, 2003, and May 10, 2005. Hundreds of institutional investors and asset managers from around the world, representing trillions of dollars in assets, attended the previous Summits. The information they shared raised profound concerns about investor exposure to climate risk, the future security of investment assets, and the fiduciary duty to take prudent steps to address climate risk on behalf of shareholders and beneficiaries. Information on previous Summits can be found at the Investor Network on Climate Risk website.

Climate Risk – and Opportunity

Climate change poses regulatory, legal, physical and competitive risks for companies. In the two years since the 2005 Summit there has been a growing recognition that climate change presents serious risks, not only for businesses and investments, but also for the global economy. Left unattended, risks from climate change will worsen over time, harming company assets and global investment portfolios. Leading economists, investors, and business leaders have stated recently that the costs of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are both affordable and significantly lower than the costs of inaction. Where there are risks, there are also opportunities, and the business opportunities posed by addressing climate change are significant. With the proper government policies and market conditions, low-carbon technologies that are available today could be more broadly deployed, and significant reductions in emissions could be achieved over the next few decades—all while creating vast new economic opportunities and new jobs.

In a letter to Sen. Boxer, the AFL-CIO lists its concerns with Lieberman-Warner (S 2191), referring back to testimony at the July 24 hearing on the draft legislation.

The AFL-CIO letter criticizes the adoption of the Sanders amendment to limit advanced-vehicle moneys to 35 MPG or higher and the Barrasso amendment clarifying the types of coal eligible for R&D subsidy.

The other delineated criticisms:

• An overly aggressive Phase I emission reduction target, now increased from a 10 percent to a 15 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2020, before the anticipated commercial availability of carbon capture and storage technologies;
• An unequivocal commitment to achieving a 70 perscent national emision reduction below 2005 levels by 2050, regardless of the degree of subsequent participation of major developing nations like China and India in a global climate protection framework;
• The failure to identify “domestic economic development” as a finding of Congress, a purpose of the legislation, and the failure to require that funding from this legislation be dedicated to domestic investments for new technology and the creation of jobs – from production to construction and exports.
• The absense of an effective safety valve price for carbon dioxide allowances, which will have an adverse impact upon investment decisions and consumer and inducstry pricing.
• The need for a restricted and regulated market system that does not fall prey to predatory trading practices, hoarding of allowances, and the creation of carbon billionaires, which an open market and unlimited banking of allowances can lead to.
• The extent of the use of international allowances combined with offsets, and he possibility of double dipping with offsets by providing allowances for activities that would have been done anyway.
• Inappropriate allocations of emissions allowances, such as the 10 percent allocation to “wires companies” to encourage energy efficiency – a goal that may be better accomplished through direct legislation on energy efficiency standards, now incorporated in other provisions of the bill.