Washington, DC - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, and Senators Byron Dorgan and Chuck Schumer released a Jobs Agenda Thursday that includes billions of dollars in investment for building retrofit programs and green transit projects. Alex Wall, Environment America’s Clean Energy Associate released the following statement:
“Energy efficiency is the cleanest, quickest, cheapest way to create jobs, save consumers money on their utility bills and reduce global warming pollution. We currently have the technology, the know-how and a workforce that is ready to retrofit our homes, buildings and manufacturing plants to make them more efficient. Included in the agenda are the Home Star residential retrofit program and similar programs for low-income housing and manufacturing plant retrofits, which will quickly create jobs in construction, design and manufacturing, save families and businesses money on their energy bills, and reduce pollution. In fact, every $1 billion invested in retrofit programs can create 25,000 jobs in 2010 and leads to $2-3 billion in private investment.
“In addition, it is critical that jobs legislation invest in green infrastructure projects that prioritize transit. We are pleased to see that the Jobs Agenda includes investments in our nation’s crumbling transit infrastructure that will create jobs, lower our dependence on dirty fossil fuels, and reduce global warming pollution. One of the greatest lessons learned from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is that transit investments create twice as many jobs per dollar than new road projects.
“Environment America applauds Senators Reid, Durbin, Baucus, Dorgan, and Schumer for their leadership on energy efficiency and green infrastructure, and we look forward to working with them to enact these policies that will help us transition to a clean energy economy.”
For additional information please contact at (202)683-1250:
On Clean Energy: Alex Wall, Clean Energy Associate, awall@environmentamerica.org
On Transportation: Rob McCulloch, Transportation Advocate, Robm@environmentamerica.org
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Environment America is a federation of state-based, citizen funded environmental groups working for clean air, clean water, and open space. www.environmentamerica.org
