At a town hall meeting in Elkhart today, Environment America applauded President Obama’s emphasis on creating clean energy jobs in his economic recovery plan. The group’s analysis of available data on the benefits of fewer than a dozen of the clean energy and transit provisions in the economic recovery bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives shows that just those provisions would reduce global warming pollution by more than 6 percent, save more than 12 million barrels of oil per year, and create nearly 1.5 million jobs across the country.
“Clean energy should be the workhorse of Indiana’s economic recovery,” said LuCinda Hohmann, Environment America’s Midwest regional organizer. “With companies like Inovateus Solar and ITAMCO Energy already creating good jobs manufacturing parts for solar and wind power; President Obama’s recovery plan will turn a trickle of green jobs into a torrent of opportunity here in Indiana,” she added.
The House bill invests $80 billion in clean energy, energy efficiency and public transit. One program, which is among President Obama’s top priorities, would put Americans to work weatherizing two million homes. President Obama has also called for tripling alternative energy and the recovery bill invests in renewable energy incentives to bring more wind and renewable energy online in Indiana. The House’s $6.2 billion in funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program would reduce global warming pollution by 12 million tons per year, provide at least $2.72 in economic benefits for every dollar invested, and create 465,000 new jobs over two years. The House bill contains $12 billion for public transit, which according to the Surface Transportation Policy Project, creates only a third of the pollution of automobile travel and generates 19 percent more jobs than building new highways.
“At a time when the unemployment rate is at 15.3 percent in the Elkhart-Goshen area, President Obama’s recovery package will create jobs that will benefit every Hoosier. These green jobs mean more secure energy in the long term; less global warming pollution; fewer asthma attacks from air pollution; more clean lakes and rivers for drinking water, swimming and fishing, and more jobs right here at home,” concluded Hohmann.
