IFPTE Applauds President Biden’s Signing of Inflation Reduction Act, Which Supports TVA Green Energy Investments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, DC – The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), a labor union representing upwards of 90,000 workers across North America, including over 2,000 members of the Engineering Association-IFPTE Local 1937 who work for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), applauds President Biden’s signing of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

In particular, we welcome the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that allow TVA the ability to receive federal incentives to expand its investment in green energy with additional nuclear energy power plants and other advanced energy generation and infrastructure.  We support these provisions because they create opportunities to advance goals that IFPTE and TVA share: reducing our reliance upon carbon-based energy production, creating good-paying jobs in the TVA region, supporting local economies and businesses, and providing reliable and affordable energy to its ratepayers.

It is imperative that our nation reduce the use of carbon-based energy and play a leading role in the effort to combat climate change.  The transition to a lower carbon emission economy means we need to invest quickly and aggressively in carbon-free nuclear energy.

The TVA has a 90-year record of working collaboratively with the unions that represent its workers.  Seventeen unions currently represent workers at TVA, including the Engineering Association-IFPTE Local 1937, the TVA Trades and Labor Council, the Building Trades unions working under project labor agreements, the Teamsters, and the Office and Professional Employees International Union.  At the AFL-CIO's convention this past June, IFPTE strengthened this culture of collaboration with the passage of a resolution that calls for increased investment in Small Modular Reactors.  

IFPTE has had several meetings with leaders in the Biden Administration since the passage of that resolution that have helped to advance our shared goal of expanding TVA's green energy portfolio.  We will continue to work with the administration and our fellow TVA unions to ensure that the funding provided in this legislation is directed in a way that benefits the TVA, its workers, and its ratepayers.  

Across the United States and Canada, IFPTE represents 90,000 highly skilled workers in the federal, public, and private sectors. IFPTE is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO and the CLC.

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Download a PDF of this statement here.