The papers, written by field experts, informed a private workshop of government, labor and industry leaders, and are published along with a summary report.
The Labor Energy Partnership (LEP) today published a suite of white papers and a culminating summary report centered around building an equitable, union-made domestic supply chain for U.S. offshore wind. Penned by a range of external authors, these white papers will engage business leaders, government officials, and labor and community organizations to ensure working people benefit from this emerging industry.
“This moment is our opportunity to meet our climate goals and economic goals at the same time. And part of that includes making sure that the jobs in the offshore wind supply chain are good, union jobs,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “These white papers will show us that the offshore wind supply chain is poised to take off, and help us build a road map to make that future a reality.”
Upon collecting the initial versions of each white paper, the LEP—a partnership of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI)—convened a high-level, private workshop of public and private sector leaders to discuss the content of the papers, hear presentations from paper authors, and engage in a dialogue about policy, strategy and partnerships. The workshop was informed by a subsequent workshop summary report that is included in the suite of products.
“We have this extraordinary chance to build a robust domestic supply chain that empowers the U.S. offshore wind industry and the quality jobs and economic engine that will come with it—but only if developers, labor, manufacturers and policymakers work together to address obstacles that will otherwise slow our progress. Our workshop was an exceptional down payment on that effort,” said Kevin Knobloch, EFI distinguished associate and president of Knobloch Energy.
The offshore wind supply chain white papers come at a timely juncture, on the heels of major progress on the offshore wind land lease side and a historic, first-of-its-kind project labor agreement between North America’s Building Trades Unions and Danish offshore wind company Ørsted. The white papers also arrive to the field just ahead of major investments in the offshore wind supply chain by the Biden administration’s Department of Energy.
Below is the full list of white papers and authors:
- “Offshore Wind Development and Supply Chain Overview,” by Dave Effross.
- “Revitalizing U.S. Shipbuilding with U.S.-Built Offshore Wind Installation and Maintenance Vessels,” by Will Foster and Riley Ohlson.
- “Addressing U.S. Manufacturing and Service Capacity/Gaps and Technical Standards,” by David W. Cash.
- “Advancing Policy Measures to Drive Development of the Domestic Offshore Wind Supply Chain,” by Liz Burdock, Ross Gould, Sam Salustro and the Business Network for Offshore Wind.
- “Building a Domestic Offshore Wind Supply Chain: Workshop Summary Report,” by Kevin Knobloch.
The Labor Energy Partnership is in Philadelphia today at the 29th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention. During a main stage plenary on energy jobs this afternoon, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler will announce these white papers and celebrate the work of the LEP. Additionally, EFI Senior Associate Tim Steeves, project manager for the white papers and workshop, will speak on a panel, “Forging a Union-Made Offshore Wind Supply Chain,” in which he will detail findings and next steps from this project.
You can find the report and white papers at https://laborenergy.org/reports/building-a-domestic-offshore-wind-supply-chain-workshop-summary-report/.
Please reach out to Sarah Clements from the AFL-CIO for any questions related to the constitutional convention, including photographs and recordings.
Contact: Sarah Clements, 202-637-5018
About the Labor Energy Partnership
The LEP is based on a shared commitment of the AFL-CIO and the Energy Futures Initiative to promote federal, regional and state energy policies that address the climate crisis while recognizing the imperatives of economic, racial and gender justice through quality jobs and the preservation of workers’ rights.