Leading labor and environmental groups are expressing concerns with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to issue an overly broad waiver of Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements for the $3 billion Clean Ports Program, with one group arguing the waiver “risks permanently offshoring supply chains for clean port technologies—and the manufacturing jobs that come with them.”
The BlueGreen Alliance (BGA), the United Steelworkers (USW), and the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) at the AFL-CIO — which represents 37 affiliated unions, including longshore workers and others in construction and manufacturing — are among the organizations who submitted comments to the EPA urging that the waiver undergo significant improvements. The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) also offered comments urging that the waiver be pulled back and reissued with significant changes.
