WASHINGTON -- There's no question the Allegheny County borough of Braddock has seen better days. It was home to 20,000-plus in its heyday, but has seen that number drop to a mere 2,600.

That isn't stopping Mayor John Fetterman from trying to restore jobs and vitality to a town left crippled when the steel industry filtered out in the 1970s and 1980s.

Hoping to attract environmental development and so-called green-collar jobs, Fetterman testified Wednesday at the House Energy and Commerce Committee's climate legislation hearing in Washington.

Video: WTAE Channel 4 Action News Interviews Fetterman Via Satellite From D.C.

"The path that we're on has failed," Fetterman said at the climate hearing. "In my part of Pennsylvania, we've lost a quarter of a million jobs in the steel industry in the past decades. Once-thriving towns like Braddock are facing economic devastation. Communities and families face desperate times. We need change, and we need it now."

Fetterman, a Harvard University graduate in Public Policy, is the spokesman in a series of ads pushing for caps on carbon emissions sponsored by the Environmental Defense Action Fund.

Related Link: The Cap Solution

Caps on carbon emissions would mean alternative energy sources and green technology, something Fetterman believes can spur job growth in towns throughout the Mon Valley and the United States rust belt.

"I believe that new path starts with a cap on carbon pollution," Fetterman testified. "By driving massive new private investment into new industries gives us a chance to create jobs. And not just high-tech positions but blue-collar jobs -- the kind that can revive a town like Braddock, or Akron, (Ohio) or Detroit."
PDF: Read The Transcript Of Fetterman's Testimony

Fetterman has pushed his message before national audiences on Fox News, "The Colbert Report" and the New York Times.

"A lot of these areas that are in the rust belt never got the bailout that the banking industry got recently. This is a way to create a lot of jobs in manufacturing in the region," he told Channel 4 Action News on Tuesday in Braddock.

Fetterman said companies that can produce new job growth have been showing interest in Braddock.

"These are the kind of areas these new companies are interested in -- that are created as a result of the Carbon Cap Legislation to relocate, add jobs -- not only blue collar -- but also green collar jobs," said Fetterman. "When the steel industry left, we lost 250,000 jobs. We need something to bring that back."

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