Sierra Club Launches Massive Ad Campaign Calling on Congress to Support Clean Energy Workers in Next COVID-19 Relief Bill

The Sierra Club launched a five figure digital advertising campaign today, targeting Congressional leadership to pass significant relief for clean energy workers in the next COVID-19 economic relief package. Currently, there are more than 500,000 clean energy workers unemployed, with more job losses likely if Congress doesn't take action to support them. The clean energy sector employs more people than the fossil fuel sector.

The ad campaign will direct constituents in Maine, Georgia, North Carolina, South Dakota, South Carolina, Illinois, and Michigan to email, tweet, and call their Senators to pressure Mitch McConnell and other congressional leaders to support the hundreds of thousands of clean energy workers who have lost or are at risk of losing their jobs. In addition to Senators, the ads will also direct constituents in California and Massachusetts to contact their Congressional Representatives to call on Speaker Pelosi to stand up for clean energy workers.

"Clean energy workers have worked tirelessly during this awful pandemic to keep our lights on, and now it's time for their country to treat them with the same dedication they've shown us," said Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club's Legislative Director. "Over the past decade, clean energy workers have become a large, essential section of America's workforce, which has transformed thousands of local economies for the better, protected our air and water quality, and led the fight against climate change."

Sierra Club is calling for Congress to extend the solar energy investment tax credit, the wind energy investment tax credit, reactivate the 1603 program, and a litany of other policy proposals that have in the past helped clean energy businesses and their workers. Sierra Club's call is coming in light of new stories showing that fossil fuel industry executives have received billions of dollars from the federal government to keep their businesses afloat, but little or nothing has gone to the clean energy industry, which has more workers.

"These workers occupy a vital position in American history, between the dirty, dangerous fossil fuels of the 19th and 20th centuries, and a clean energy future where no child has a smog induced asthma attack, no senior suffers a stroke due to soot, and we all live in a livable climate," Pierce said. "Just by getting up and going to work each day, these workers are making our present and future a better, healthier place. The next economic stimulus package should reflect their importance."