In what must have felt like slash-and-burn rainforest destruction to environmentalists, the authors of the GOP megabill excised billions of dollars for clean energy projects from the federal budget and cut or restricted tax incentives for others.
Solar, wind and hydrogen power, electric vehicles and charging stations, home energy efficiency — all fell victim to deep cuts or outright cancellation, including more than 100 projects slated for Pennsylvania.
It didn’t just horrify environmentalists. Organized labor leaders anticipating a future of skilled, well-paid jobs in the economy’s clean sector, and faith leaders who preach proper stewardship of the earth’s resources, were likewise appalled.
“We think this is stealing from our children’s future,” said the Rev. Kevin Nadolski, a Catholic priest and professor at DeSales University who organized a panel at the school Wednesday to discuss how faith and labor leaders together can fight for such programs and advance the environmental cause.
The panel was titled “Thou Shalt Not Steal from Our Children’s Future,” an informal amendment to the Ten Commandments casting the environment as a legacy to bequeath, not a resource to plunder.
It touched on Catholic social teaching about labor and the environment — both subjects of extensive commentary since at least the time of the Victorian-era Pope Leo XIII. The current pope, Leo XIV, has also preached on the topics. His predecessor, Pope Francis, earned a reputation as the environmental pontiff with his encyclical letter Laudato Si, a passionate plea to protect the planet.
Other faith traditions, Christian or otherwise, likewise preach on the dignity of labor and the precariousness of the environment. The Rev. Janel Rice, pastor of Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, turned to the opening pages of Scripture to illustrate God’s intentions for the Earth.
“Each day is described by God as good,” she said. “That point should never be lost on us.”
Clean energy unites the promise of family-sustaining wages with the promise to tend the planet as God intended, the panelists said.
“Clean energy jobs are the next great opportunity for working families here in the Lehigh Valley,” said John Werkheiser, vice president of the Lehigh Valley Labor Council.
“These are not just jobs, they are careers,” he said. “But let’s be clear. That opportunity is under threat. Cuts coming from Congress and the Department of Energy put real projects, real paychecks and real futures at risk.”
In pursuit of this clean future, a pair of Pennsylvania labor organizations — the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council — teamed with the Climate Jobs National Resource Center and Cornell University to form Union Energy.
The coalition presses policymakers and industry leaders to work for a clean energy future.
Angela Ferritto, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO president, played a key role in forming Union Energy. Raised Catholic, she said tenets of that faith and others dovetail with the aims of the labor movement.
“Whether one practices a religion or not, their basic moral causes are what brings us to the table today,” she said. “We practice justice through contracts in the labor movement, and we practice it in our faith institutions through the ethos and teachings of our chosen religion.”
Labor and faith “have always been intertwined,” she said. “If we’re all fighting for the same thing, it makes sense to come together.”
For labor, the promise of lucrative work can be shadowed by the environmental impact of that work.
Data centers, for example, the server farms that power cloud computing and artificial intelligence, guarantee abundant work for contractors, electricians and other tradespeople. But they also are voracious consumers of water and energy.
Paul Anthony, president of Lehigh Valley Building Trades, said labor supports the construction of the centers because they employ a variety of skilled workers and are also good training grounds for apprentices.
However, Ferritto said, “we also recognize the flip side of the data centers, the water use, the pull on the grid.” Union Energy, she added, has been discussing those effects and asked Cornell University experts to explore whether they can be lessened by new technologies.
Nadolski, who is DeSales’ chief of staff and vice president for mission, said it’s important to remember that environmental practices have effects far beyond the local because of the intimate connection of all things.
“We’re certainly focused on the Lehigh Valley because it’s our backyard,” he said. “But when we’re thinking about water, we’re not just thinking about water in the Lehigh Valley. We’re thinking about water in sub-Saharan Africa.
“We have a responsibility to be in solidarity with women who are carrying children who are not appropriately hydrating to carry their children to term,” he said. “So that’s a solidarity matter. And when we violate that solidarity, that’s harming people for whom we’re responsible.”
Morning Call reporter Daniel Patrick Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6598 or dsheehan@mcall.com
