RELEASE: Sen. Brown Introduces Legislation to Boost Domestic Transportation Manufacturing, Backed by Newly Merged BlueGreen Alliance and Apollo Alliance

The invigorated organization will keep a keen focus on breaking the stranglehold of the "jobless recovery." Earlier this year, the BlueGreen Alliance launched Jobs21!, which, spearheaded by national co-chairs former Michigan Congressman Mark Schauer and former Minnesota Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, is a nine-state grassroots campaign calling for a national jobs plan to put America back to work, building the industries of the 21st century here in the United States. The initiative calls for investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency, transportation infrastructure and fuel-efficient vehicles, a smarter electrical grid, broadband Internet, recycling and green chemistry — industries that will create new jobs and markets in manufacturing, construction, education and many other sectors.

This initiative will be strengthened through coordination with the Apollo Alliance's strong network of state and local affiliates — now dubbed BlueGreen Apollo Alliances — and by Apollo's recently-launched Clean Transportation Manufacturing Action Plan (TMAP) project that calls for federal investment in clean transportation that will create 3.7 million direct and indirect jobs over six years and will save Americans up to $5,000 per family each year in commuting costs. The legislation introduced by Senator Brown today incorporates key provisions from the TMAP project.

"We are thrilled that two great organizations will become one effort to build a stronger, renewed movement to create the good jobs of the 21st century economy — the jobs that will help us to move to a clean, renewable energy economy, reduce pollution and break our country's dependence on foreign oil," said Carl Pope, chairman of the Sierra Club, co-chair of the BlueGreen Alliance and Apollo Alliance board member. "Protecting the planet and building a stronger, more prosperous economy for everyone are inextricably linked, and today, this movement becomes that much stronger."

The BlueGreen Alliance is a national partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations working to expand the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. Launched in 2006 by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club, the BlueGreen Alliance now unites 10 U.S. labor unions and four of America's most influential environmental organizations — and their 14 million members and supporters — in pursuit of good jobs, a clean environment and a 21st century economy.

The Apollo Alliance is a national coalition of environmental, labor, business and community leaders committed to building a clean energy, good jobs economy. Launched in 2003, Apollo's diverse coalition has offered a bold vision to catalyze a clean energy economy to spur job growth by harkening back to President Kennedy's visionary call to restore America's technological leadership by landing the first man on the moon within the decade of the 1960's.

"The BlueGreen Alliance and the Apollo Alliance are joining forces to build a more powerful movement to create good, green jobs in America," said David Foster, who will continue as executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance. "Our national purpose should be to provide every American a good job in a clean energy economy."