Writing as executive director of the Environmental Health Coalition, the editorial, "Fake Greens/From pipes to bayfront, unions strike a pose" (Feb. 1), is yet another attempt to drive a jobs-versus-the-environment wedge between groups that are working hard to ensure a high quality of life for everyone in San Diego.

As anyone who has participated in development projects in our community would know, San Diego labor unions have a deep, consistent and long-standing commitment to economic and environmental justice. When development sites are contaminated, it is workers, not the CEOs or anti-worker lobbyists, who get exposed to toxic contamination. Prevention of exposure relies on adequate environmental review and cleanup.

Local labor leaders have served on the Environmental Health Coalition board of directors and in our membership for all of our 27- year history. They also recognize what you do not: There is an inexorable and undeniable dependency between our environmental health and our economic viability.

Here in San Diego, we are very lucky that those who represent working people deeply understand the reality of the environment and our dependence on it. They know that the shortest, most direct route to successful projects is to ensure that they protect the environment and mitigate impacts, which in turn leads to community support and a good economy.

When projects fail due to poor planning, they stall or do not happen at all, and workers (union or not) are the ones who pay the price. We are proud of our local labor leaders for seeing these important issues from a holistic view and rejecting the false premise that environmental values and economic values are mutually exclusive. They know, as we do, that the choice is not either/or, but rather both or neither.