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Virginia Alvino Young
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Appalachian groups urge Biden, Congress to help energy transition communities by funding the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Forty Appalachian and national organizations signed onto a letter to President Joe Biden, U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urging them to prioritize Appalachian communities in the budget reconciliation package currently under negotiation in Congress. The letter highlights the need for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a plan that will address the climate crisis while creating good-paying jobs for communities that have been hit hardest by the fossil fuel industry and its decline.
“The CCC is an incredible opportunity to target natural infrastructure investments into coal country for reforesting Appalachia, restoring wetlands, remediating brownfields and repairing our damaged lands,” said the letter.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, whose opposition halted negotiations on last year’s Build Back Better Act, has said he would support a smaller budget reconciliation package that would include $555 billion in clean energy investments to help the United States reach its carbon reduction goals.
The letter highlights several components that would help make a revitalized CCC more accessible to Appalachians who’ve been left out of the workforce, such as those caught up in the opioid epidemic and now facing significant barriers to employment. Recommendations include a basic wage of at least $15/hour and that the jobs created through the new CCC connect to apprenticeship programs and career opportunities so that participants increase access to careers through their time in the program.
“There are many Appalachian communities that have been devastated by opioids and decades of disinvestment. The government has historically placed prisons in these communities, but what we actually need is job training, skills, and investment in the people and the land that bring back family-sustaining wages, renewed prosperity to the region, and the vision of a future that young people want to be part of. This can be done by building out the critical infrastructure America needs to shift to a clean energy economy,” said Wendy Tarr, director of the Vincentian Ohio Action Network.
“Originally, the CCC was designed to help America combat environmental challenges from the Dust Bowl, giving workers jobs and purpose in The Depression,” said Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center who co-authored a recent report on the importance of the CCC for Appalachia. “Now we have a new environmental challenge – climate change – and millions of workers who again need jobs and a way to contribute. To reach those detached from the formal job market, non-college educated people, who make up most of the jobless, should make up the bulk of CCC members.”
“Right now, our region faces unprecedented challenges – but we also have an incredible opportunity,” said Dana Kuhnline, ReImagine Appalachia’s campaign manager. “We have a once-in-a-generation chance to respond to the climate crisis while repairing our nation’s infrastructure, cleaning up dangerous pollution, investing in working families and jumpstarting our clean energy future.”
LIST OF GROUPS WHO SIGNED THE LETTER:
ReImagine Appalachia
Keystone Research Center
PennFuture
Policy Matters Ohio
West Virginia Rivers Coalition
1worker1vote
Allegheny County Clean Air Now (ACCAN)
Appalachian Institute, Wheeling University
Appalachian Pagan Ministry
Appalshop, Inc.
Berks Gas Truth
Blacklick Creek Watershed Assn
Breathe Project
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Christians For The Mountains
Climate Reality Project: Susquehanna Valley PA Chapter
Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR)
FreshWater Accountability Project
Friends of the Riverfront
Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity
Grounded Strategies
Kentucky Resources Council
Kentucky Waterways Alliance
Keystone Progress
Landforce
League of Women Voters Pennsylvania
Moms Clean Air Force in Ohio
NASW WV
Ohio Environmental Council
Patricia M. DeMarco, Ph.D. Vice President Borough Council
Pennsylvania Council of Churches
Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
Rail Pollution Protection Pittsburgh
Rise Up WV
RuralOrganizing.org Education Fund
The Sustainable Enterprise Accelerator at Slippery Rock University
Vincentian Ohio Action Network
West Virginia Council of Churches
West Virginia NAACP Conference of Branches
WV Citizen Action
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