A coalition of labor, environmental, and progressive groups is putting up a quarter of a million dollars for a TV ad campaign promoting national clean-energy and climate legislation.
The ad (watch it below), which will air on national cable and prime-time network TV for at least the next week, calls on Congress to pass an energy bill that halts the economic crisis, creates jobs, and ends dependence on foreign oil. “A clean energy jobs bill could create millions of jobs, but if we don’t invest in American manufacturing, those jobs could go overseas,” the ad says.
Coalition members include MoveOn Political Action, the Service Employees International Union, the League of Conservation Voters, the Building Trades and Construction Department of the AFL-CIO, the Blue Green Alliance, and Environmental Defense Fund.
“Tell Congress America must lead in the 21st century,” the ad concludes. “Make our energy clean. Make it in America.”
The message, said Blue Green Alliance Executive Director David Foster in a call with reporters, is that “a green economy is not just a good idea, it’s a smart, effective way to end the recession and put Americans back to work.”
Other organizations — including the veterans group VoteVets, the Apollo Alliance, and the Center for American Progress Action Fund — joined on the call to support the ad campaign. VoteVets advisory board member General Wesley Clark said that pushing for a climate and energy bill “is a no-brainer” for a veterans group, citing the duel concerns of reliance on foreign oil and climate impacts. Coalition partners stressed the need for a comprehensive bill that addresses all of their concerns — from economic to environmental to national security.
MoveOn Political Action Executive Director Justin Rubin said this is “just the beginning” of their campaign blitz. “People are ready for building a new America that can put people back to work and get the economy moving again,” he said.
Here’s the ad:
Some coalition partners are also running separate TV, radio, and print ads targeting key members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which took up discussion of a draft climate and energy bill this week. Twenty-one different ads are planned for this week and two more next week, targeting swing-vote Democrats and Republicans as well as outright opponents of the bill. It total, these ads are costing “millions,” organizers said.
As an example, here’s the ad that MoveOn and the Alliance for Climate Protection are running in the district of Texas Democrat Charles Gonzalez:
