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Group Slams Union Over Solar Greenmail

The August 6, 2012 meeting of the Kings County Planning Commission will become a forum to condemn what opponents call an” epidemic of union greenmail” against renewable energy projects in the San Joaquin Valley.

Critics say construction trade unions (such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No. 100 in Fresno) exploit environmental laws to delay proposed projects with the objective of coercing developers to hand over monopoly control of the construction to unions through a “Project Labor Agreement.”

“For too long, construction unions have claimed that solar power is bad for the environment,” said Eric Christen, executive director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction. “It’s all a sham. The unions block or threaten to block solar power projects using the California Environmental Quality Act – commonly known as CEQA – until the developer surrenders to the unions and agrees to sign a Project Labor Agreement.”

At their meeting on August 6, the Kings County Planning Commission will consider approval of a 160 megawatt solar power plant in Lemoore called the Mustang Solar Generation Project.

The developer of the Mustang Solar Generation Project – Recurrent Energy of San Francisco – signed a Project Labor Agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No. 100 in Fresno. Read the Project Labor Agreement here.

“We’re going to make sure the Kings County Planning Commission and the people of California and the San Joaquin Valley know why solar power plants are so expensive, why they are taking so long to build, and why local workers don’t get to build them” Christen said.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No. 100 has a long history of hiring the law firm of Adams, Broadwell, Joseph & Cardozo out of South San Francisco to dig up alleged environmental problems with solar projects. One of the most prominent was the Fresno Airport Parking solar project in 2007.

Adams Broadwell Joseph & Cardozo is cited in the Project Labor Agreement for the Mustang Solar Generation Project.

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