| Coming on the heels of the news of a planned $1 billion conversion of the idle Ford Wixom plant into a massive renewable energy park resulting in 4,300 direct jobs, the BlueGreen Alliance and Repower America are holding a rally for clean energy jobs at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday Sept. 2 at the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1299 hall at 11424 West Jefferson in River Rouge.
The rally will be in support of clean energy jobs in America, and more specifically in Michigan. It's fitting that the BlueGreen Alliance is a coalition of the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club and other environmental groups formed in the summer of 2007. The strange bedfellows formed the strategic alliance to pursue a joint public policy agenda that includes stopping global warming, clean energy, fair trade and reducing toxins in the environment.
Repower America was launched in 2008 by former Vice-President Al Gore with an ambitious plan n to "repower" our country with 100 clean electricity and revitalize our national energy infrastructure. Repower America stands for the importance of investing in energy efficiency; clean, renewable and diversified energy sources; a unified national smart energy grid that connects these renewable energy sources to every part of the country; and clean car technology.
Repower America has goals very similar to the BlueGreen Alliance, and they include jumpstarting our economy and create millions of jobs; help end our dependence on foreign oil; reward innovation and job creation, not polluters; and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow the threat of climate change. |
