Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Green Jobs Act of 2007 Part Of Larger Energy Bill



The Senate and House have approved the Green Jobs Act of 2007 (H.R. 2847), which authorizes $125 million annually for greening the nation's workforce by providing job training for 35,000 people every year. The legislation was introduced by Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-CA), right, and John Tierney (D-MA) in the House and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY), left, in the Senate. The Energy Bill is languishing in Congress and President Bush has threatened to veto the bill if passed in its current form because of some bad provisions in the larger bill. AAEA supports the overall bill and the Green Jobs Act but also opposes the same provisions opposed by the Bush Administration, including 1) language that would allow antitrust lawsuits to be filed against OPEC-member nations, 2) Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to require all American utility companies to generate 15% of their energy from renewable sources by the year 2020, 3) repeal roughly $16 billion in tax breaks for the oil industry enacted in 2005.

A coalition called Green For All has been instrumental in pushing the legislation. The coalition says it is committed to securing one billion dollars by 2012 to create “green pathways out of poverty” for 250,000 people in the United States, by greatly expanding federal government and private sector commitments to “green-collar” jobs.

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