Steelworkers, Blue Green Alliance Join Campaign for Carbon Cap

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(Washington – April 14, 2009) The United Steelworkers Union (USW) and the Blue Green Alliance are joining a new advertising campaign in support of a cap on carbon pollution, highlighting the direct connection between solving climate change and creating new jobs for U.S. workers.

“The USW has longed believed that good jobs and clean jobs are the same thing and we don’t need to trade one for the other. In today’s stagnant economy, we need carbon reduction legislation more than ever both to generate good paying, sustainable jobs and a future with clean air,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.

“From steelworkers to machinists to engineers, we can put millions of Americans to work building the clean energy economy,” said David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, a national partnership of labor union and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy.

The campaign, sponsored by Environmental Defense Action Fund, features a group of unemployed steel workers and John Fetterman – the Harvard-educated, tattooed, ‘take no prisoners’ mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania. Braddock is a small steel town and former ‘Jewel of the Monongahela Valley’ that is now struggling for its survival.

Mayor Fetterman advocates for a carbon cap as a critical step toward generating jobs in blue-collar industries like steel. For towns and cities – like Braddock, as well as Flint, Michigan and Akron, Ohio — these industries are the lifeblood of the community.

“Towns like Braddock need Congress to cap carbon so we can get to work,” Mayor Fetterman said. “It takes 250 tons of steel to make a wind turbine, and we’re ready to make as many as we can. We’ve lost 250,000 jobs in Monongahela Valley, and I want to bring them back for the next big business built on steel.”

The campaign was shot on location in Braddock, in coordination with the local branch of the USW. Workers who were laid off from mills in the Monongahela Valley were cast in the television, print and on-line advertisements.

A website, thecapsolution.org, was also developed to support the campaign. The site has an explanation of the economics of a carbon cap and features videos of Mayor Fetterman discussing the benefits of a cap for towns like Braddock.

“The Steelworkers have built American industry for a century, and they’re ready to build the new, clean energy industries we need for our future.” said David Yarnold, President of Environmental Defense Action Fund. “They know we need a carbon cap to help our economy, create jobs and launch those new industries. We’re proud to be their partners on this campaign.”

The campaign includes four television spots, four print ads and three on-line banner ads. It will run from April 12 through May 8 in Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Missouri, New Hampshire, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Developed by SS+K, the print ads were shot by photographer Michael O’Neill and TV spots were directed by Michael Epstein.
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Environmental Defense Action Fund is the lobbying arm of Environmental Defense, a leading environmental organization dedicated to educating the public about sound environmental policy and promoting lasting solutions to protect the environmental rights of all people. For more information, visit www.edf.org