BLUEGREEN ALLIANCE
Our nation must move forward with an ambitious plan to rebuild and transform America’s infrastructure that will boost our economy, create millions of jobs, and strengthen our communities, while simultaneously reducing pollution and combating climate change. We should be leading the world in building the innovative infrastructure systems that will ensure our global competitiveness in the 21st century and beyond.
BlueGreen Alliance research has found that investing an estimated $2.2 trillion in key sectors of America’s infrastructure to improve them from a “D+” grade overall to a “B” grade has the potential to support or create an additional 14.5 million job-years across the U.S. economy, add a cumulative $1.66 trillion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over 10 years, and reduce greenhouse gas pollution and boost climate resilience—versus a business as-usual approach.
This document is intended to guide policymakers in the development of federal legislation to invest in our nation’s infrastructure. This should not be considered an exhaustive list of BlueGreen Alliance recommendations.2 The following recommendations are BlueGreen Alliance infrastructure policy priorities for legislation in the 116th Congress, which build on issues identified in the BlueGreen Alliance’s Making the Grade 2.0 infrastructure platform.
There are fourteen specific priorities listed here, ordered roughly by sector (not by importance), as well as overarching standards that are relevant to all legislation.
Sector: Energy Transmission, Distribution, and Storage
Priority 1: Finance, Plan for, and Build High-Voltage Transmission Lines
Priority 2: Increase Funding for Energy Storage and Grid Resiliency Research, Development, and Deployment
Priority 3: Reduce Methane Leaks from Natural Gas Distribution Pipelines
Sector: Transportation
Priority 4: Modernize Transit and Enhance Public and Jobs Benefits
Priority 5: Deploy Innovative and Electric Transportation Infrastructure
Sector: Manufacturing
Priority 6: Support Clean Technology Manufacturing Leadership, Industrial Energy Efficiency, and Advanced Manufacturing
Sector: Water
Priority 7: Increase, Improve, and Expand Funding for Water Infrastructure
Priority 8: Support Green Stormwater Infrastructure
Sector: Buildings
Priority 9: Improve the Energy Efficiency of Schools and Health and Safety for Teachers and Students
Sector: Broadband
Priority 11: Deploy High-Speed Broadband Internet to Close the Digital Divide, Reduce Emissions, and Spur Economic Development
Sector: Natural Infrastructure, Reclamation, and Climate Resilience
Priority 12: Restore Our Public Lands
Priority 13: Reclaim Abandoned Mine Lands and Clean Up Hazardous Waste and Brownfield Sites
Priority 14: Plan, Manage, and Build for Climate Resilience
Overarching Recommendations: Ensure High-Road Standards Apply to All Infrastructure Legislation
To ensure we maximize the benefits of our infrastructure investments for communities, the environment, and workers, any infrastructure package must:
Create family-sustaining jobs:
- Ensure all projects built with public resources are subject to Buy America standards that maximize the return to taxpayers and the American economy;
- Enforce Davis-Bacon provisions that ensure workers are paid prevailing wages;
- Utilize project labor agreements (PLAs), community benefit agreements, local hire, and other provisions and practices that prioritize improving training, working conditions, and project benefits, including respect for collective bargaining agreements and workers’ organizing rights such as neutrality, majority sign-up, and first contract arbitration;
- Ensure these requirements and benefits extend across infrastructure projects and to manufacturing of infrastructure related equipment and technology; and
- Maintain and grow jobs in the public sector necessary to maintain and operate assets, and ensure compliance and project quality.
Reduce pollution and make our communities more resilient:
- Drive forward-looking planning and investments that meet environmental standards and build resilient infrastructure systems and communities; and
- Ensure that we Buy Clean and prioritize use of the most efficient, resilient, and cleanest materials and products with the lowest carbon and toxicity footprints.
Maximize benefits to our workers and communities, especially those most in need:
- Enhance and enforce workforce training and development programs to expand the number of skilled workers in new and existing industries;
- Enhance and enforce hiring and procurement policies that benefit low-income communities, people of color, and women; and
- Increase economic opportunities for communities and local workers, especially for people of color and low-income communities.
Make a robust, impactful investment:
- Make a robust, public investment in our infrastructure systems; and
- Distribute investment broadly—tackling the full array of our infrastructure needs.
About BlueGreen Alliance
www.bluegreenalliance.org
The BlueGreen Alliance unites America’s largest labor unions and its most influential environmental organizations to solve today’s environmental challenges in ways that create and maintain quality jobs and build a stronger, fairer economy.
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