2M U.S. jobs seen in clean energy
Sep 11 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Monica Chen The Herald-Sun,
Durham, N.C.
A green jobs plan paid for with auctions of carbon permits could net North
Carolina $2.9 billion over the next two years and 62,015 new jobs, according
to a just-released report.
The Center for American Progress and the University of Massachusetts'
Political Economy Research Institute propose that a total of $100 billion
for the entire country could be raised with proceeds from auctions of carbon
permits under a global warming cap-and-trade program.
To be more specific, the program would drive private investments into clean
energy and raise public revenue through carbon permit auctions, according to
the report, called "Green Recovery -- A Program to Create Good Jobs and
Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy."
A cap-and-trade program works by the federal government setting a cap on the
maximum amount of pollution the U.S. could create annually. The biggest
polluters would have to buy a credit -- essentially paying for the right to
pollute.
The report finds that clean energy investments would create four times as
many jobs as spending the same amount of money in the oil industry,
according to a news release.
"It goes a long way toward making our environment safer and cleaning up our
water and air... and creating new jobs," said Dan Crawford, director of
governmental affairs at the Conservation Council of North Carolina, one of
several in-state environmental groups in support of the report.
"Any time you can make a double hit like this, I think it's a safe
investment for North Carolina," Crawford said.
The report proposes that the $100 billion of initial investments would fund
the following: $50 billion for tax credits for private businesses and
homeowners for building retrofits and new investments; $46 billion in direct
government spending to support public building retrofits and expand mass
transit; and $4 billion for federal loan guarantees.
Colin Hagan, the federal policy associate with Southern Alliance for Clean
Energy, said he was most pleased with the scale and pace of the proposal.
"We could stand to see more investment, but $100 billion is a great start in
terms of investments and solutions nationally," he said.
"The other thing is also the rate, or the pace at which this report is
calling for the investment," Hagan said. "It's a good timeframe... If they
were calling for $100 billion over 30 years or 50 years, it would have less
of an effect than over a two-year period."
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit group, is another North
Carolina organization that's in support of the proposal.
Hagan said the feasibility of the plan and the likelihood it could be
implemented is increasing.
"With the energy crisis and with some more short-term concerns, it looks
like we'll be waiting until 2009 or the beginning of the next congressional
sessions to introduce climate change," he said.
"This isn't the end. This is just the tip of the iceberg and is indicative
of the benefits in clean energy solutions and finding solutions to climate
change," Hagan said.
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