Hill Heat

During Earth Week and on the four-year anniversary of the Green New Deal Resolution, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) will reintroduce the resolution at a press conference at the Senate Swamp on THURSDAY, April 20th at 12:00 PM. Senator Markey will also join Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17) to announce new legislation focused on tackling the intersecting climate and public health crises.

The lawmakers will be joined by Green New Deal members of Congress and labor, health, climate, and justice advocates to celebrate the intersectional coalition’s achievement in getting the Inflation Reduction Act passed—the federal government’s largest-ever investment in climate and clean energy—while outlining the fight ahead to deliver a just, Green New Deal future that upholds the promise of the resolution and the movement that it inspired.

Participants:

• Senator Edward J. Markey
• Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
• Representative Ro Khanna
• Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07)
• Representative Greg Casar (TX-35)
• Representative Jamaal Bowman (NY-16)
• Representative Maxwell Frost (FL-10)
• Representative Delia Ramirez (IL-03)
• Representative Robert Garcia (CA-42)
• Representative Becca Balint (VT)
• Kaniela Ing, National Director of the Green New Deal Network
• Sara Nelson, President of Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
• Dr. Colleen Achong, SEIU Healthcare, Committee of Interns and Residents
• Jacqui Patterson, Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project and Climate Justice Alliance member

WHEN: THURSDAY, April 20th at 12:00 PM

WHERE: Senate Swamp, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.

20/04/2023 at 12:00PM

Join Evergreen Action as we chat with Senator Ed Markey, Representative Pramila Jayapal, and Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus about the climate provisions in the new Inflation Reduction Act. Evergreen Action Senior Policy Advisor Dr. Leah Stokes will moderate a conversation about the trade-offs and historic investments contained in the historic bill.

Webinar link

01/08/2022 at 07:00PM

Markey your calendars: Evergreen’s next Policy + Pints happy hour is coming up—and, as you might have guessed, Senator Ed Markey is joining us! We’re going to be talking about the urgent need to launch a Civilian Climate Corps. (Think of it as a justice-driven, climate-centered version of FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps.)

In this virtual BYOB special hosted by Evergreen Action campaigns director Lena Moffitt, we’ll chat with:

• Senator Markey
• Tonya Gayle, executive director, Green City Force
• Lauren Maunus, advocacy director, Sunrise Movement

about:

• Why the CCC is such a powerful opportunity for taking on our overlapping climate and economic crises
• How overwhelmingly popular it is
• What corpsmembers would actually do in communities across the country
• And more!

Bring beer, tea, wine, kombucha—whatever!—and join us on Wednesday, July 14 at 4 pm ET / 1 pm PT.

14/07/2021 at 04:00PM

Today, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are introducing the Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act of 2021. The act establishes the Civilian Climate Corps (CCC), to be administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service within AmeriCorps.

Over five years, 1.5 million Americans in the CCC will complete federally-funded projects that help communities respond to climate change and transition to a clean economy. CCC work will reduce carbon pollution, enable a transition to renewable energy, build healthier and more resilient communities, implement conservation projects with proven climate benefits, and help communities recover from climate disasters.

Corpsmembers will receive education and training in coordination with local institutions, including labor unions, and will coordinate closely with local groups to help develop career pathways and union opportunities in new green sectors.

Markey and Ocasio-Cortez discussed the bill on the National Mall today:

The CCC will administer a large national service program and provide simplified and enhanced grants to scale up the existing network of over 130 local and state service and conservation corps.

All corpsmembers are guaranteed the following benefits:

• Salary and benefits: Compensation of at least $15 per hour, full health care coverage, and critical support services such as transportation, housing, and childcare.
• Educational Funding: Enabling educational grants of $25,000 per year of service, up to $50,000, eligible for further education at any level or to pay down student debt.
• Career Opportunities: Corps will prioritize registered pre-apprenticeship curricula and union membership as part of service. Corpsmembers will receive vocational training appropriate to the local job market.

• Explicit antiracist language ensures that environmental justice communities receive benefits of at least 50% of CCC and Partner Corps projects, and 50% of corpsmembers will be recruited from these same communities, with no age limit for participation in at least 50% of Partner Corps.
• Labor groups will beintegrated into CCC and Partner Corps planning and operations, with DOL registered pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs prioritized for grants, required coordination with local labor unions, buy American provisions in procurement, and advisory board representation from labor groups. The corps, partner corps, and any private companies partnered in corps activities will adhere to neutrality and card check agreements.
• Tribal communities will receive 10% of the dedicated EJ benefits.

Eligible projects include but are not limited to:

• Weatherizing and retrofitting residential and non-residential buildings for energy efficiency and electrification and participating in the construction of new net-zero buildings
• Maintenance and operation of energy-efficient and net zero buildings and properties
• Building energy-efficient affordable housing units
• Conducting energy audits
• Recommending ways for households to improve energy efficiency
• Installing and upgrading public transit and electric vehicle infrastructure
• Installing clean energy infrastructure in homes and small businesses, on farms, and in communities
• Advising on climate and energy policy
• Providing clean energy-related services
• Expanding broadband access and adoption
• Working with schools and youth programs to educate students and youth about ways to reduce home energy use and improve the environment
• Assisting in the development of local recycling and composting programs
• Renewing and rehabilitating public and tribal lands and trails owned or maintained by the Federal Government, an Indian tribe, a State, a municipal or local government, or any formal partners of those entities
• Improving air quality or other pollution monitoring networks
• Remediation of the effects of toxins and other hazardous pollution
• Building and maintaining green stormwater management infrastructure
• Creating and expanding local and regional food systems
• Developing farm to institution distribution models to make schools, hospitals, and other institutions healthier and more food resilient
• Performing community resilience assessments
• Collecting and analyzing data related to climate change and disasters
• Advising and planning for community resilience and adaptation
• Building and maintaining resilient infrastructure
• Conducting prescribed burns or engaging in reforestation activity
• Supporting the activities of local emergency management agencies and programs
• Advising and supporting farmers and ranchers in the implementation of management practices that account for climate change organizing community-based resiliency coalitions and working groups
• Providing disaster preparedness or community emergency response team training to community-based organizations and residents, bincluding for animals in disasters
• Providing education on climate change, disaster, and resilience at community-based organizations and schools
• Developing community climate resilience hub infrastructure
• Clearing debris after climate disasters
• Repairing and rebuilding homes and buildings
• Replanting locally adapted native trees and plants
• Stabilizing shorelines and hillsides
• Conserving, protecting, and restoring habitat, especially habitat to threatened, endangered, and at-risk species;
• Stabilizing shorelines or riparian areas using green infrastructure such as native wetlands
• Removing invasive species and planting locally adapted native species
• Collecting, storing, and propagating native seeds and plant materials
• removing hazardous fuels within one-quarter mile of dwellings and homes or one-quarter mile around delineated communities
• Planting and maintaining urban, tribal, and rural forests, trees, native grasslands, and natural areas developing urban farms and gardens
• Reforestation of native forest ecosystems, afforestation, and other projects to achieve demonstrable carbon sinks
• Reclaiming unneeded roads and tracks and restoring affected lands to natural conditions
• Restoring and managing wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity for native species, including building wildlife crossings and removing barriers to wildlife movement
• Assisting farmers and ranchers in a transition to more regenerative farming and ranching systems

Download the bill here.

Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) has introduced a resolution that calls for a comprehensive justice-based response to the crises facing the nation and the world, from the fossil-fueled climate crisis to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

The Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy (THRIVE) Resolution (H. Res. 1102) is modeled in part after 2019’s Green New Deal resolution introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). The resolution is also largely consistent with the 2020 Democratic Party platform and the Biden campaign agenda.

Haaland introduced the agenda at a press conference on September 10 with Markey and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Keya Chaterjee, the director of the U.S. Climate Action Network, an environmental coalition, also participated.

The resolution was formally introduced on September 11th with 76 co-sponsors, all Democrats.

Haaland’s resolution was praised by several other emocratic members of the U.S. Senate, including former presidential candidates Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), as well as Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-N.M.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

While the resolution has limited specifics, it does include a call for a national “carbon pollution-free” electricity system by 2035, in line with presidential candidate Joe Biden’s plan.

The resolution calls for the expansion of union protections and increased union density in clean-energy jobs, and investment in “Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities to build power and counteract racial and gender injustice.”

Notably, the resolution says nothing about foreign policy or the military.

Unlike the Green New Deal resolution, the THRIVE resolution does not call for universal employment, housing, or health care.

The resolution is supported by The Sunrise Movement, Sierra Club, Movement for Black Lives, Working Families Party, Service Employees International Union, Indigenous Environmental Network and Center for Popular Democracy.

Full text:

Experienced environmental lobbyists and former House colleagues Ana Unruh Cohen and Alison Cassady have been tapped by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) to become the chief and deputy chief of staff respectively for the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Unruh Cohen had been the deputy director of the committee’s predecessor, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

They previously worked directly together as staffers helping to craft the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) for their bosses Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) from 2007 until the bill’s demise in 2009.

Dr. Unruh Cohen was a long-time staffer for Markey, moving with him to the U.S. Senate before becoming the top lobbyist for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); Cassady was a long-time staffer for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) before becoming the head of Energy and Environment Policy at the Center for American Progress—a role Unruh Cohen originated in 2004.

Unruh Cohen’s Hill experience also includes working as the deputy staff director of the Natural Resource Committee Democratic staff.

Unruh Cohen holds a bachelor’s in chemistry from Trinity University and received her PhD in earth sciences from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She is based in NRDC’s Washington, D.C., office.

As the managing director of Energy and Environment Policy at the Center for American Progress, Cassady wrote reports on issues as varied as the social cost of carbon and the power of corporate polluter lobbyists. Cassady joined CAP after working as a senior professional staff member for Rep. Henry Waxman and the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, where she focused on unconventional oil and gas development, climate change, air quality, and nuclear issues.

As a House staffer, Cassady led an investigation into hydraulic fracturing, uncovering the continued use of diesel fuel in hydraulic fracturing and writing a first-of-its-kind report on the chemical components of hydraulic fracturing fluids. Cassady developed additional expertise on offshore oil and gas development as a key member of the Energy and Commerce Committee team investigating the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in 2010.

She also served Rep. Waxman during his tenure as chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and helped investigate the events leading to the financial crisis in 2008. Before beginning her time in the House, Cassady was research director for Environment America and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. She is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

The Green New Deal resolution, H.Res. 109/S.Res. 59, picked up 18 more co-sponsors as of this Wednesday (with committee assignments):

• Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA-14), Armed Services
• Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA-15)
• Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), House Administration Chair
• Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20), Agriculture, Ways & Means
• Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA-32)
• Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA-37)
• Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA-38), Ways & Means
• Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA-44), Energy & Commerce
• Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL-07), Ways & Means
• Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA-05), Appropriations
• Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD-03), Energy & Commerce
• Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD-07), Oversight & Reform Chair
• Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO-04)
• Rep. David Price (D-NC-04), Appropriations
• Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY-03), Ways & Means
• Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY-17), Appropriations Chair
• Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA-03), Education & Labor Chair
• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA-09), Armed Services Chair

The updated list of co-sponsors is below.

The Green New Deal resolution, now H.Res. 109/S.Res. 59, picked up six more co-sponsors on Saturday:

• Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA-34)
• Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO-02), member of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis
• Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA-04)
• Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY-07)
• Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY-09)
• Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI-01)

The updated list of co-sponsors is below.

Following Thursday’s announcement of the Green New Deal Ocasio-Markey resolution, supporters have announced several dozen co-sponsors, including 61 members of the House of Representatives (two non-voting) and 9 U.S. senators.

The list, from Justice Democrats, is below:

In front of the U.S. Capitol building, Rep. Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) today announced the introduction of resolution “recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal” that builds a just, full-employment economy to stop global warming.

The resolution now has 64 original co-sponsors in the House and 9 in the Senate.

The full text of the resolution (PDF) is below: