Twin City Mayors Launch Green Manufacturing Effort
Rybak and Coleman Call for National Leadership on Climate Change and Job Creation
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman today called on labor unions, environmental organizations and business owners to help them make their two cities the nation’s top producer of environmentally-focused “green” products and manufacturing. The mayors announced their goal at a forum they hosted on the topic with Executive Director of the Sierra Club Carl Pope and International President of the United Steelworkers Leo Gerard.
“We are committed to attracting the kind of private investment that will make Minneapolis and Saint Paul the center for clean energy technology and products around the country,” Mayor Rybak, said.
“In a changing global economy, we need to make every effort to adapt our existing infrastructure to provide the products that preserve jobs while solving the most important environmental issue of our time,” Mayor Coleman said.
The mayors hosted the forum to urge employers, manufacturing unions and environmental groups to work together to 1) expand and convert manufacturing infrastructure to produce renewable energy equipment and other green products such as hybrid and fuel efficient auto parts, 2) advocate for economic development policies that promote green manufacturing, and 3) promote energy efficiency in manufacturing to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases.
Gerard and Pope called the mayors’ initiative on green manufacturing “a bold and imaginative step which sees the economic opportunities that await us when we face our environmental challenges.”
“The Steelworkers Union shares a vision of the future where good jobs depend on a clean environment,” Pope added.
“We know that environmental investments create jobs. We are at the beginning of the transition to a renewable energy economy. If we manage this transition for the benefit of working families, we will create millions of new technology manufacturing jobs in the U.S., preserve our communities, and make energy more affordable, all while solving global warming,” Gerard said.
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