The session is well attended as, in October 2009, David Foster, director of the Blue Green Alliance, formed by labour unions and environmental organisations, and former director of the United Steelworkers District 11, speaks in front of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. There he states that “comprehensive climate change legislation should focus on the creation and retention of millions of new and existing, family-sustaining green jobs and should finance the transition to a clean energy economy.” And he adds: “Our partners agree that no course of action would be more destructive than to continue the energy policies that drove oil prices to 140 dollars a barrel in 2008, contributed to skyrocketing food prices and global food shortages, and resulted in unsustainable trade imbalances. Solving global warming will not be the economic calamity that some are predicting. Done right, the transition to a green economy will be the most important economic development tool of the 21st century.”
It was not the first time the Blue Green Alliance had been invited to Congress. Already, in April 2009, Foster had appeared in front of the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The Blue Green Alliance has become part of the Washington scene.
It started out as a loose co-operation between the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club. Then, in 2006, the alliance was formed. Its aim is to combat economic and environmental problems through the creation of green jobs. Today two of the largest US environmental associations are members, as well as six important labour unions; altogether the membership is eight million.
In 2009, the alliance had a budget of about six million dollars, provided by membership fees and foundation grants. In addition to climate and energy policy, it focuses on trade, workers' rights, and a new „green“ approach towards the use of chemicals.
Appearances in Congress and lobbying representatives is only part the alliance's activities. With public information, training programmes, and advertising, the Blue Green Alliance is trying to combat the widespread notion that environmentalism costs jobs. A special focus is the promotion of local initiatives – there already are regional Blue Green Alliances in eight states. Jointly with Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection, the Blue Green Alliance recently organised a “Made in America” tour. In 22 states they campaigned for green jobs and more effective climate legislation.
As David Foster speaks in front of the Senate Committee, it is mainly Democrats who give him the thumbs-up. Although the “blue” in the Alliance’s name is for “blue collar” and does not refer to the colour of the Democratic Party, the alliance will not be able to convince all of the Senators. The importance of labour unions in the US has been on the decline for years, and environmentalists do not reach every part of the population either. Still, the alliance may play a crucial role in climate legislation. Many of the swing votes that will decide the fate of climate legislation come from the rust belt, the country's oldest industrial area. This is the home of the heavy industries – iron, coal, and steel – that have been in crisis since the 1960s. A spokesperson for Republican Representative Debbie Halvorson from Illinois said to the New York Times that prior to the vote on climate legislation members of the Blue Green Alliance had frequently contacted her office. “They all stressed the potential, climate protection has for creating jobs,” she said, “especially in Illinois.”
In June 2009 climate legislation narrowly passed the House of Representatives. According to Foster, in the Senate, too, the alliance would do all it could to win approval.
Yet, not all supporters of the alliance agree on all the details of the climate laws. In front of the Senate Committee Foster declared that some energy intensive industries had to be protected and he demanded tariffs on imports from countries where climate protection was less pronounced.
It is not only President Obama who has warned against protectionism. In the Senate Committee, too, many criticised the demand to levy import tariffs. Yet, once controversy is centred on such questions it implies that there is an overall majority for climate protection – which would be great news in the US. For this to happen, the Green Blue Alliance's contribution is significant.
Green New Deal / Great Transformation
- Dossier Conference "The Great Transformation" (english/german)
- Böll.Thema: Green New Deal (english)
- Böll.Thema: Going green (english)
- Böll.Thema: Going green (german)