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WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic downturn have exacerbated already high levels of poverty in the region due to extractive industry practices of absentee corporations, while systemic racism and mass incarceration create ongoing barriers to employment, opportunity and personal safety, and the consequences of changing climate are creating severe storms and flooding in the region; and,
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WHEREAS, our state and nation has been thrust into crisis; and,
WHEREAS, the people of Appalachia and the Greater Pittsburgh Region have an opportunity to build a 21st century economy where everyone has a good-paying job with good benefits and responsible employers who help protect the environment and health of the people; and,
WHEREAS, enacting a federal Appalachian climate infrastructure plan could create a new deal that works for us all by expanding opportunity through public investments, growing manufacturing jobs, restoring our damaged land and waters through reclamation and remediation, modernizing the electric grid and incorporating universal broadband, reviving the Civilian Conservation Corps; and promoting union rights, second chance employment, better pay and benefits, and local ownership models that rebuild the middle class; and,
WHEREAS, federal action on climate change requires that the people of Appalachia and the City of Pittsburgh are at the table to ensure that working people and communities are put first and that their contributions are respected; and that Appalachia is a place where everyone can live, work, and raise a family; and,
WHEREAS, the economy should celebrate our culture and heritage; invest in communities; generate good, stable, and meaningful union jobs; be just and equitable; and value the contributions of coal miners and other fossil fuel industry workers; and,
WHEREAS, by expanding career opportunities in clean manufacturing; land remediation, grid modernization, and building a sustainable transportation sys...
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