Thousands will rally in Pittsburgh against EPA proposal

Members of Boilermakers Local 154 rally for clean coal during an August 25, 2010 event.

THOUSANDS OF MEMBERS of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) will be joined by electrical workers, boilermakers, railway workers, utility workers and others in a July 31 rally and march in downtown Pittsburgh protesting the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions from existing sources.

Some 70 busloads of union members and their families from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama and elsewhere are expected to arrive on the morning of July 31 to drop off their passengers at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center prior to an 11:00 a.m. rally. At around noon, the members will march to the William S. Morehead Federal Building, where the EPA will be conducting a public hearing on the proposed rule. After circling the building, the march will proceed back to the Convention Center.

“Climate change is a global issue that requires a global solution.”
— Cecil Roberts, UMWA President

“We will be there to protest an EPA policy that will be destructive to our members’ jobs, their families and their communities,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “We estimate this rule could cause more than 65,000 workers in the coal, utility and railroad industries to lose their jobs by 2025.

“Climate change is a global issue that requires a global solution,” Roberts said. “The EPA’s proposed rule will not have any real impact on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. But it will cost many of our members their jobs and have significant impact on their communities, and will also mean higher electricity rates for everyone. That is a trade-off that doesn’t make any sense to us.

“Ours is not a political rally,” Roberts said. “We aren’t going to be there to score political points. Others may be in Pittsburgh that day to do that, but they will not be associated with us. We will be there to exercise our right to petition our government and to stand up for our families, for our neighbors, for American jobs and for American communities.”

Roberts will address the rally and March. Other speakers will include Edwin D. Hill, International President, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; Dan Kane, International Secretary-Treasurer, United Mine Workers of America; and Jack Shea, President, Allegheny County Central Labor Council.