With labor and environmentalists talking, Pa. House Blue-Green alliance debuts legislative agenda

Labor leaders and environmentalists stood together Tuesday as members of the Pennsylvania House Blue-Green Caucus announced a legislative agenda they said would create renewable energy jobs for union workers and protect the commonwealth’s air and water.

For Robert Bair, president of the Pennsylvania State Building & Construction Trades Council, the event marked a years-long shift away from a belief that the interests of organized labor and environmental advocates are mutually exclusive.

“It’s no secret that I have my industry partners. You guys know the building trades are all about jobs,” Bair, who represents 115 local unions across the state, said.

But after meeting with Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia), the Blue-Green Caucus chairperson, Bair said he gained an understanding that the building trades can be partners in reinventing Pennsylvania’s energy economy.

“We can help fix the sins of our forefathers when it was done wrong. We can still make Pennsylvania a leader in energy generation. We can start cleaning up our industries,” Bair said.

As a result of their dialogue, Fiedler introduced and passed the Solar for Pennsylvania Schools bill. The legislation would create a grant program to reimburse school districts for up to 50% of the cost of installing solar arrays using funds from the federal Inflation Reduction Act, which includes clean energy initiatives. The bill passed in June with a bipartisan 134-69 vote and awaits consideration in the state Senate.

“For so long, we’ve been told that environmental and labor groups don’t get along. They don’t really like each other. They don’t talk at all … In this building, we of course know that that is not true,” Fiedler said Tuesday.

But through ongoing discussions, Fiedler said, the Solar for Schools bill grew into a slate of bills that include measures to increase consumers’ access to solar energy, require a prevailing wage to be paid on green energy projects built with state or federal money, improve energy efficiency, provide more funding for mass transit and ensure the privatization of public water and sewer systems does not result in spiking rates.

The package of 11 bills represents a shared vision for environmental protection, clean energy, union jobs and economic growth across Pennsylvania, Katie Blume, legislative director of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, said.

“Taken together, these bills will create good union jobs, lower costs for working families, and local businesses and help protect our air and water now and in the future,” Blume said.

As recently as last summer, Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, showed signs of discord within their leadership over the balancing of environmental and labor interests.

Pennsylvania Democrats seek balance between environmental policy and loyalty to labor

Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Chairperson Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) abruptly canceled votes on bills to mitigate the impact of gas drilling on nearby communities and halt the reactivation of idle coal-fired generating plants to power cryptocurrency mining. 

With a narrow one-vote majority and some members facing reelection in swing districts in 2024, Vitali said Democratic leaders were wary of calling votes on legislation that could be seen as killing jobs and hurting unions.

The Blue-Green Alliance is a national organization that promotes solidarity between labor and environmentalists on climate policy. Rep. Leanne Krueger (D-Delaware) said the Pennsylvania House Blue-Green Caucus had been inactive for some time when she became chair and used her roles as a member of both the House Labor and Industry and Environmental Resources and Energy committees to build relationships with stakeholders in the environmental movement and stakeholders in the labor movement.

“I could see that there was so much common ground and shared value, yet outside sources often try to divide the labor and environmental stakeholders for their own political game,” Krueger said.

In 2021, with the help of the AFL-CIO, the caucus put together a group of labor leaders and environmental leaders to inform the policy work of the Blue-Green Caucus. That led to a partnership in which labor stakeholders have supported good environmental legislation and environmental stakeholders who support good labor legislation, Krueger said. 

“We don’t always agree on everything. But there’s a real dialogue and a strong movement towards common ground,” Krueger said.

The bills in the Blue-Green legislative agenda include: 

• House Bill 1032, to help schools build solar energy arrays, is awaiting consideration in the state Senate. 
• House Bill 1842 would allow consumers to subscribe to a share of a community solar facility. It passed 111-90 and awaits consideration in the Senate.
• House Bill 949 would require a prevailing wage to be paid on government-funded solar, electric vehicle charging, and other clean energy projects. 
• House Bill 491 would streamline Public Utilities Commission approval of energy efficiency projects. It passed unanimously in the House and has been referred to the Senate.
• House Bill 1607 would create a statewide electronic waste recycling program. 
• House Bill 1615 would set energy and water efficiency standards for commercial and residential appliances
• House Bills 1862-1865 would reform the process by which the PUC oversees and approves the acquisition of municipal utilities by investor-owned companies. The bills passed out of the Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee on April 9.
• The Blue-Green Caucus and House Democrats support Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal to increase funding for public transportation by $283 million.