Progressives introduce climate resilience bill

January 26, 2022

House Democrats are pushing new legislation to develop a workforce for climate resilience projects, with a focus on broader progressive concerns about equity and environmental justice.

The "Climate Resilience Workforce Act" would create several new grant programs for states and communities to plan against climate impacts — such as sea-level rise and more severe extreme weather — and secure workers for the projects.

Introduced yesterday by Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the bill is supported by a cadre of progressive lawmakers, including Reps. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.).

The legislation would establish an Office of Climate Resilience at the White House to develop a national resilience action plan.

That's an idea that has been proposed before in various forms, including in a recent bipartisan bill from Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) (E&E News PM, Jan. 21).

But the "Climate Resilience Workforce Act" would heavily emphasize how climate change affects low-income and marginalized communities.

The action plan, for instance, would be required to "address the underlying and systemic factors of systemic racism, economic inequity, and environmental degradation and pollution that have led to inequitable climate risks and impacts."

The bill would also establish labor standards for the resilience workforce, including a $15 minimum wage for a new "Climate Resilience Job Creation grant program." And it would offer a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants working in climate resilience.

"As we continue pushing to enact a Build Back Better Act that includes the largest effort to combat climate change in American history, we're refusing to leave frontline communities, climate resilience, and working people behind," Jayapal said in a statement.

"The innovative Climate Resilience Workforce Act responds to the worsening climate crisis at the scale necessary by investing in a skilled workforce that is capable of not only responding to but preparing for the destructive impacts of climate change."


By:  Nick Sobczyk
Source: E&E News