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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 system, the number of family sustaining jobs created in these emergent industries could top 243,000 in Pennsylvania, 235,000 Ohio, and 41,000 in West Virginia; and,
WHEREAS, these career opportunities would bring down the state of Pennsylvania’s unemployment from 6.7% to under 3%; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh is rich in assets, including its people, land, minerals, water, music and heritage; and for more than a century, Appalachian communities, such as Pittsburgh, have helped fuel America’s Industrial Revolution; 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, we can have a new Appalachia and a new City of Pittsburgh - one that is a destination for people seeking opportunity and a better way of life, and where people no longer have to leave our state to pursue economic opportunities for their families; and,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the City of Pittsburgh supports Reimagine Appalachia efforts to build a 21st century economy that’s good for workers, communities, and the environment; and encourages members of the State of Pennsylvania Congressional delegation to support the framework of Reimagine Appalachia through federal action to enact the Appalachian Climate Infrastructure Plan.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this Will of Council shall be sent to the Allegheny County delegation of the Pennsylvania State House and Senate, the chairs and minority chairs of the State House and Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committees, Governor Tom Wolf, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.