NAM Endorses IMPACT Act
Yesterday, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) sent a letter of support for Senator Sherrod Brown’s IMPACT Act to the Senator’s office. NAM joins more than 200 companies that support IMPACT through Apollo’s campaign to recruit business support.
Dorothy Coleman, Vice President for Tax and Domestic Policy at NAM wrote in the association’s letter of support:
By encouraging the development and manufacture of clean and efficient energy technologies, this legislation will promote U.S. job creation and U.S. competitiveness. The IMPACT Act is a critical step in strengthening the core of our nation’s manufacturing economy – the small and medium manufacturers – at a time when both they and our economy need it most.
The IMPACT Act would help small and mid-sized manufacturers retool for the clean energy economy by establishing a $30 billion manufacturing revolving loan fund and expanding Manufacturing Extension Partnerships to focus on clean energy manufacturing.
HECK, Let’s Retrofit Some Homes
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Volunteer receives weatherization materials. |
For the last two autumns, students from the University of Buffalo, Daemen College, and Nichols School stood side-by-side with union workers and community members to caulk, seal and insulate homes in Buffalo, New York. The all-volunteer energy efficiency crews are part of a project started by Frank Hotchkiss, chairman of the Western New York Apollo Alliance and New York State Apollo steering committee member. Read more
Senator Boxer Honors Apollo Leaders
On Friday, May 8, 2009, Senator Barbara Boxer presented an Environmental Leadership Award to Apollo Alliance’s Phil Angelides, Chairman and Jerome Ringo, President in recognition of their contribution to the clean energy, good job economy (see pix left.)
Since our founding in 2003, Apollo Alliance has led the fight for a clean-energy revolution that will put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of high-quality, green-collar jobs. By ramping up domestic clean-energy production, we can secure the nation’s energy supply, curb climate change, and ensure a broadly shared prosperity. The message that Apollo has been promoting for six years – the message of clean energy, good jobs – is now the economic message of our times.
One of our major strengths is our coalition. The policies we bring to the table come with a broad base of support, which gives us real influence with policy makers. For example, we sent a delegation composed of economists, businessmen, and labor and environmental leaders to Washington, D.C. to meet with legislators about what should be in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As a result, the stimulus package included more than $110 billion in spending and incentives for the clean energy sector, many of which were proposed and advocated by the Apollo Alliance. We are now working hard to ensure that the energy bill includes a domestic manufacturing policy for clean energy.
Other award recipients included:
Robert Redford-Environmentalist, Activist, Board Trustee-Natural Resources Defense Council
Nicole Lederer and Bob Epstein-Environmental Entrepreneurs
Christine H. Russell-Trustee: Columbia Foundation, Gaia Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council
Audrey Rust-Peninsula Open Space Trust
Congratulations to all of the award recipients. In this photo: Audrey Rust, Robert Redford,Nicole Lederer, Phil Angelides, Senator Barbara Boxer, Jerome Ringo, Christine Russel, and Bob Epstein.
Photo courtesy of P K B Visions.
Stockton Biodiesel Plant Counts On Stimulus To Expand
President Barack Obama said in his inaugural address, “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” Lisa Mortenson and her company, Community Fuels, does just that by harnessing the power of biofuels.
Congress: Invest In Manufacturing
The Apollo Alliance and several allies have written a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D - Nevada) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D - California) that urges them to make a major investment in the manufacturing sector. The goal of this investment is to give much needed help to industry to retool their factories so that domestic manufacturers can fuel the clean energy, good job economy.
Today, unemployment numbers came out that were the worst one-month loss since 1974. Almost 600,000 jobs were lost in January 2009. Over one-third of those jobs came from the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing has lost 1.1 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
America’s manufacturing sector is central to our economic success. Manufacturing jobs are good jobs that support families and have traditionally anchored America’s middle class. And they are at the heart of the clean energy economy. Nearly 80 percent of all jobs in the solar and wind industries are manufacturing jobs. Targeted investments in manufacturing can help firms retool to produce greener and more efficient products and become more efficient firms .
The Apollo Alliance advocates a short-term stimulus that would create 343,000 jobs and would. include:
- $25 billion in loan guarantees (at a cost of approximately $4 billion) for retooling and retraining, so that firms can transition to producing products and component parts for the clean energy and energy efficiency sectors and for industrial efficiency upgrades such as combined heat and power systems.
- Invest an additional $200 million in the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) network, which provides critical regional support to manufacturing firms that are struggling to retool, to retrain workers, and to take advantage of new clean energy opportunities.
- Provide $8 billion in incentives to cities and states to replace aging buses and rail cars with new American-made clean energy vehicles.
However, any stimulus needs to be followed up with a comprehensive plan that will restore America’s manufacturing leadership to meet the demands of the clean energy future. That plan includes extending the stimulus plans beyond a year or two; rebuilding the U.S. auto industry by investing in high-efficiency vehicles; and investing in a national low-carbon fuel infrastructure and next generation alternative fuels.
–Heidi Pickman
Restore America’s manufacturing leadership to meet the demands of the clean energy future.
Small Cities Can Join Big Ones in Pursuing Green-Collar Jobs
Apollo Alliance President Jerome Ringo explains the importance and opportunities of green-collar jobs to Mayor George L. Grace, Sr. of St. Gabriel, Louisiana at the National Conference of Black Mayors in New Orleans. Read more
Green-Collar Jobs
When people talk about green-collar jobs, two questions always pop up. What is it? And how many are there?
“Green-Collar Jobs in America’s Cities,” the Apollo Alliance’s March 2008 report, defines the term this way: A job qualifies as green-collar if it provides high enough wages and good benefits to support a family, opportunity to advance and build a career, and reduces waste, pollution, and other environmental risks. Read more
