The Oregon AFL-CIO and Congressman Earl Blumenauer have thrown
their support behind an Apollo Alliance plan calling for the federal
government to invest $500 billion over the next decade to create
more than 5 million “green collar” jobs in the United
States.
“The New Apollo Program offers a unique vision for reinvesting
in America and building our nation’s clean energy future,”
Blumenauer said at a press conference Oct. 17 to roll out the proposal.
The gathering was held at the future Northeast Portland headquarters
of McKinstry Co., a unionized construction contractor.
In addition to Blumenauer, roundtable participants included Tom
Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO; Cameron Hilton, business
development manager for McKinstry Co.; Kate Gordon, co-director
of the Apollo Alliance; Sallie Schullinger-Krause, program director
for the Oregon Environmental Council; and Connie Ashbrook, executive
director of Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc.
The Apollo Alliance is a five-year-old coalition of union, business
and environmental groups that is calling for major government investment
in alternative energy as a way to create new high-paying jobs for
American workers. The group’s Oregon chapter was formed last
year. Barbara Byrd, secretary-treasurer of the Oregon AFL-CIO, is
the chapter’s chairperson.
“If implemented, the New Apollo Program would do more than
create solid job growth,” Chamberlain said. “It will
lead to quality jobs that can’t be shipped overseas.”
Gordon, co-chair of the Apollo Alliance, said that given the current
infrastructure crisis, climate crisis, and economic crisis, “the
time is clearly now to make this happen”
The Apollo program will encourage the next president and Congress
to invest $50 billion a year for 10 years to produce a “clean-energy,
good-job” economy, Gordon said.
Given the current economic situation, some question the ability
of the government to invest in the plan, but Gordon dismissed the
argument that it’s not affordable.
“If we can afford to give AIG $85 billion — one company
to bail it out — we can do $50 billion a year to invest in
our future and in our workforce and in our people and in our environment.
It suddenly seems doable. And it is the time to do it,” she
said.
Apollo’s blueprint includes five key initiatives:
