Union members join industry groups to rally against state caps on power plant emissions

Union workers — seeking a voice at the table in fossil fuel policies at the state and national level — rallied Wednesday at the coal-fired Cheswick Generating Station.

Organized by the Power PA Jobs Alliance, a coalition of labor and business groups spanning Southwestern Pennsylvania, the event targeted the negative impacts of Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposal to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI.

The rally in Springdale was kept small — about 50 people — to comply with pandemic public health guidelines. It unfolded as Republicans in Charlotte prepared for the final days of a virtual national convention set to formally launch President Trump into his run for a second term of office.

Business and labor leaders at the rally said they’ve been watching the debate over their industry, first at the Democratic gathering last week, and now the Republican convention.

The debate has been framed as placing the need to address the threat of climate change against the fossil fuel industry, which produces 80% of the nation’s energy needs and contributes to carbon emissions.

But industry supporters and labor leaders said it is not that simple.

They maintained Wolf’s plan, which proposes to lower carbon emissions through an RGGI carbon tax, is a case in point. It would eliminate jobs and put Pennsylvania power generators at a disadvantage against competitors in Ohio and West Virginia, neighboring states that do not plan to join the initiative, industry workers said.

It’s a major issue in the region, where coal- and gas-fired power plants dot the landscape.

An RGGI membership would require Pennsylvania’s electric power generators with a capacity of 25 megawatts or more to buy allowances equal to their carbon dioxide emission caps. The RGGI sets caps on carbon emissions for its nine member states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Watching his members gather at the 50-year-old, 565-megawatt plant on the banks of the Allegheny River, Boilermakers Local 154 business manager John Hughes said the impact of RGGI would be devastating for workers dealing with a pandemic economy.

“This RGGI will kill us, and it will send jobs to West Virginia and Ohio,” Hughes said.

He said members of the local that represents 1,500 union boilermakers are watching events in Washington and Harrisburg, fearful Democrats they have long supported are abandoning blue-collar workers who rely on the energy industry for thousands of good-paying jobs.

Kevin Panzino, plant manager at the generating station in Springdale, told state lawmakers who toured the plant prior to the rally Wednesday that company officials fear Wolf is overstepping his authority through the use of executive orders.

“DEP’s (the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection) own modeling shows the reduction in CO2 from RGGI is irrelevant. … We’re not asking for a hand out. We don’t need any help. If this goes through the House and Senate, we’ll do our part. We always have,” he said.

Union workers at the rally said Democrats — who have labeled global warming an existential threat meriting immediate action to reduce carbon emissions — are living in a dream world. Technology to replace coal and fossil fuels simply doesn’t exist yet, while emerging technologies are paving a path to clean, safe fossil fuel energy, said boilermakers’ Local 154 business agent Shawn Steffee.

“RGGI has been a gut punch to boilermakers from Maine to Virginia, and we’re not going to take that sucker punch,” Steffee said.

It is apparent the debate and the electoral clout of union members, who make up about 10% of America’s workforce, is resonating with candidates and office holders.

State Reps. Pam Snyder, D-Greene.; Jim Struzzi, R-Indiana; and state Sens. Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties; and Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming, spoke Wednesday in support of the Jobs Alliance, while state Rep. Eric Nelson and state Sen. Kim Ward, both Hempfield Republicans, were on hand to offer their support.

“The governor believes that addressing the global climate crisis is one of the most critical issues of our lifetime,” Wolf’s spokeswoman, Lyndsay Kensinger, responded in an email. “Participating in RGGI would provide positive impacts for Pennsylvania, both environmentally and economically.

“The administration is open to working with legislators to address concerns as it relates to fairness for impacted workers and communities, including those where these power plants are located, and address climate change.”

Speakers at the national political conventions have highlighted concerns about fossil fuel and energy industry issues.

Both GOP National Chair Ronna McDaniel and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned a Democratic president would eliminate fossil fuels and end unconventional gas drilling or fracking, two facets of an industry that employs thousands.

Democrats, meanwhile, removed a plank from their national platform that would have called for an end to subsidies for fossil fuel producers and made no mention of the Green New Deal.

And they repeatedly stated that while they support limits on both fossil fuels and fracking, they have not supported an elimination.