Apollo Alliance Chairman Phil Angelides Announces Midwest Forums of Business, Labor and Environmental Leaders to Chart Course Toward Clean Energy Economy
SAN FRANCISCO – In the wake of President Obama’s State of the Union call for creating clean energy jobs, Apollo Alliance Chairman Phil Angelides announced that the coalition of business, labor, environmental and community leaders which he leads will host a series of Midwest forums to help chart this new course:
“America’s jobs of the future will be created through today’s investments in energy efficiency and renewable power sources. By bringing together diverse interests to chart the course toward our clean energy future, we can strengthen American businesses and create a new generation well-paid jobs.
“Over the next several weeks, Apollo Alliances in Michigan, Indiana and Missouri will host forums to discuss how these states can reap the economic benefits of the global movement toward clean energy production. These forums will bring together a diverse array of businesses, labor leaders, political officials and economic development experts who can speak to the job creation potential of federal investments in cleaner, more efficient energy technologies, as well as to the role that federal climate and energy policies must play to drive demand and spur economic growth.”
The need to create new American jobs has never been more acute. Nationwide unemployment remained at 10 percent in December, and the U.S. manufacturing sector has been in severe decline over the past decade, shedding 5.5 million jobs since 2000. The one bright spot in the economy has been the expansion of clean energy jobs, which have grown at more than twice the rate of overall jobs over the past decade, according to a June 2009 analysis by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
In December, Apollo released a clean energy investment plan that would create up to 1.2 million domestic jobs while increasing U.S. energy security and climate stability. The 5-point plan to spur economic recovery and create jobs focused on several areas the president and the Senate have identified as being critical to domestic job growth, including transportation infrastructure, energy efficiency and renewables, and domestic clean energy manufacturing.
CONTACTS: Sam Haswell: (415) 371-1700 x201
For more information, visit ApolloAlliance.org.
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The Apollo Alliance is a coalition of labor, business, environmental and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution that will put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of high-quality, green-collar jobs.