Sep 9, 2024
Press
Congresswoman Summer Lee Joins Clean Energy Champions in Highlighting How the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will Aid the Appalachian Sustainable Finance Hub in Creating a More Prosperous Clean Energy Future in Pittsburgh
**For Immediate Release**
Kyla Gill, Kyla.Gill@mail.house.gov
Vaibhav Vijay, Vaibhav.Vijay@mail.house.gov
Congresswoman Summer Lee Joins Clean Energy Champions in Highlighting How the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will Aid the Appalachian Sustainable Finance Hub in Creating a More Prosperous Clean Energy Future in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA – September 3rd, 2024 – Today, Congresswoman Summer Lee, alongside public officials and clean energy leaders, convened a press conference to underscore the importance of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a landmark $27 billion investment enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Congresswoman highlighted how this historic funding is driving critical clean energy projects across the Pittsburgh region and playing a vital role in combating the climate crisis. Speakers at the event also stressed the urgent need to protect these transformative investments from any efforts to dismantle them.
“Thanks to groups like the Steel Valley Authority, who are partners with the Appalachian Sustainable Finance Hub, Western Pennsylvania is positioned to take full advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the enormous opportunity that programs like the GGRF offer our region,” said Congresswoman Summer Lee (PA-12). “By helping communities invest in climate action, the GGRF directs long-overdue funding to projects that will slash climate pollution, lower energy costs for American families, and create good-quality jobs — all while leveraging an unprecedented wave of private sector investment.”
The Sustainable Finance Hub aims to connect investors and developers with shovel-ready clean energy projects to stabilize communities facing long-term economic decline and create good-paying green jobs in the region. Building on funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Sustainable Finance Hub will leverage their resources to access GGRF grants that will support clean energy projects that will revitalize cities and rural communities in Western Pennsylvania. Union training and apprenticeship programs play a critical role in helping dislocated workers and disadvantaged youth transition into green-collar jobs. Speakers underscored the role the GGRF can play in enhancing the Sustainable Finance Hub’s ability to guide economic renewal in Appalachian communities.
“Allegheny County helped build America. Now, the investments in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will help us build a more affordable, equitable, and prosperous future – and deliver much needed support to reduce toxic air pollution, said Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato. We welcome public-private partnerships like the Sustainable Finance Hub, that leverage funds from the IRA and the Bipartisan Infrastructure law and help create an environment in which the government is part of the solution.”
More than two-thirds of all GGRF funding will go to projects in communities that often struggle to access capital for projects to reduce pollution and lower household energy bills. The Sustainable Finance Hub works with local leaders, industry partners, labor, and investors to facilitate the planning and funding of clean energy projects across five states (Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, and West Virginia), with a focus on Pittsburgh and surrounding communities.
“The Sustainable Finance Hub is bringing much-needed funding from the GGRF and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to the communities that need it most, said Tom Croft, Executive Director of Steel Valley Authority. For investors and builders, these funds will unlock investment opportunities in low- and zero-pollution projects that will bring good, high-paying and union jobs back to Western Pennsylvania and beyond.”
Despite several communities standing to benefit from the GGRF, the program is still under threat from opponents who put polluters over people and gamble with our jobs, our economic future, and our health. Speakers highlighted how rolling back components of the GGRF would rob communities of the opportunity to adopt clean energy and instead, drive more pollution into communities already struggling with the negative health consequences of dirty energy.
“It is vital for us at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to have a plan for the clean energy transition, and that means creating job training opportunities for our members to take advantage of federal investments like the GGRF,” said Ed Hill Jr., International Representative for IBEW’s 3rd District. “These are the jobs of the future and IBEW is ready to collaborate with the Sustainable Finance Hub to maximize our region’s clean energy potential.”
“The Biden-Harris Administration has made real on its promise to deliver once-in-a-generation climate investments through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund established under the Inflation Reduction Act,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “There is unprecedented momentum in the Appalachian region for these programs and there’s never been a better time to move the needle forward.”
Please find a full recording of the event HERE.
Since taking office in January 2023, Lee, who serves on the House Oversight Committee and Space, Science and Technology Committee, has delivered historic levels of federal investment totaling over $1.85 Billion brought back to Western PA, including over $580 million for infrastructure, over $110 million for affordable transit, over $500 million to keep clean energy manufacturing at home in Pennsylvania, and over $55 million on clean energy efforts in and around schools to help keep our kids and communities safe. These investments will help improve Western Pennsylvania’s infrastructure and transit, ensure cleaner air and drinking water, lower housing costs, fund research institutions, fuel clean manufacturing, fund STEM innovation and entrepreneurship, boost workforce development, and create thousands of good paying union jobs. Lee and her team have also delivered casework and constituent services to over 2,300 constituents with issues ranging from helping our seniors and disabled community access Medicare and social security to helping folks secure housing and helping families with immigration support and passports.