Apollo Alliance Announces Formation of Missouri Affiliate

Coalition Will Promote Clean Energy, Good Jobs Economy in Missouri    

CONTACTS:
National: Sam Haswell: (415) 371-1700 x201
Missouri: Joe Thomas (314) 494-9890

SAN FRANCISCO – The Apollo Alliance today announced the formation of its Missouri affiliate, a broad coalition of labor, environmental, community and business leaders that will promote policies and projects to help revitalize the Missouri economy by creating a new clean energy, good jobs economy.

Since its founding in 2003, Apollo Alliance has worked at the local, state and national levels to catalyze a clean energy revolution that will put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of high-quality, green-collar jobs by promoting investments in energy efficiency, clean power, mass transit, next-generation vehicles, emerging technologies, and clean-energy education and training.

Missouri, which is coping with nearly nine percent unemployment and the loss of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in recent years, stands to benefit from the new jobs that will be created in the clean energy economy. With significant investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency manufacturing – as called for by Apollo Alliance in its Green Manufacturing Action Plan (GreenMAP) – Missouri could gain thousands of well-paying building-material and energy-efficient appliance manufacturing jobs. Such investments will also lead to jobs in finance, transportation, installation, and other related businesses.

“We are thrilled to welcome our new Missouri affiliate into the Apollo fold,” said Phil Angelides, Chairman of the Apollo Alliance. “We’re on the verge of making an historic leap from a country than runs on fossil fuels to one that runs on clean energy. To fully realize this transition, we’ll need the kind of strong, on-the-ground organizing presence that Missouri Apollo will provide.”

The steering committee of the Missouri Apollo Alliance includes: Emily Andrews, Executive Director of St. Louis Regional Green Building Council; Liz Forrestal, Executive Director of Missouri Votes Conservation; Lara Granich, Executive Director of Missouri Jobs with Justice; Melissa Hope, Sierra Club; Garry Kemp, Secretary of Kansas City Building and Construction Trades Council; Clyde McQueen, President and CEO of Kansas City Full Employment Council; Erin Noble, Energy Policy and Outreach Coordinator for Missouri Coalition for the Environment; and Emil Ramirez, United Steelworkers, District 11.

Missouri joins more than a dozen state and local Apollo affiliates around the country. The Alliance is particularly strong in the Midwest, where Apollo affiliates in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin are already working to ensure a just transition to a clean energy economy.