Thursday, December 04, 2008

President Obama's Green Jobs Stimulus Package

President Obama expects to pass a $500 to $800 billion stimulus plan to jump start the American economy within his first 100 days in office. President Obama wants to get Congress to authorize $150 billion to create 2.5 million green jobs by 2010. AAEA supports President Obama's plan to create a wide variety of green jobs. We hope the plan will create green entrepreneurs in addition to creating green jobs. We also hope the plan will include an outreach component to include those historically excluded from these sorts of business opportunities.

Obama's green jobs include weatherizing hundreds of thousands of homes, installation of smart meters and construction of a smart grid to monitor and reduce home, business and industrial electricity use, grants to state and local governments for mass transit, roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects. We recommend that President Obama should include separating Combined Sewers and replacing old drinking water lines in the infrastructure part of his plan. Although renewables tax incentives were included in the financial bailout bill, President Obama plans more tax breaks or direct government subsidies for a variety of clean energy projects, including solar arrays, wind farms, advanced biofuels and technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants. AAEA hopes to gain support from the Obama administration for its Energy Defense Reservations Program within the carbon capture component of his plan.

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