Economic Stimulus Package Should Fund Green Jobs

Congressional leaders are reportedly assembling a stimulus bill as large as several hundreds of billions of dollars. On November 12, the Union of Concerned Scientists and a coalition of environmental groups sent a letter urging Congress to invest in a number of near-term spending projects that boost energy efficiency and renewable energy (see below). We also recently launched a new feature—Faces of Renewable Energy—to profile the individuals who are creating the US' new clean energy future.

According to a report by the Center for American Progress and the University of Massachusetts’ Political Economy Research Institute, money invested in clean energy creates twice as many jobs per dollar invested compared to traditional fossil fuel-based energy.

November 12, 2008

Dear Leader Reid, Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Boehner,

Economists, business leaders, and American workers all agree, as do we, that our economy needs quick attention from Congress. As you consider how to deliver that aid, whether in a stimulus bill during a November lame duck session or in January, we urge you to invest taxpayer dollars in green infrastructure and green jobs development that immediately puts people to work and reinvigorates the economy. (At the same
time, it should be noted that this package is a down payment on prompt action in 2009 to enact a comprehensive energy package including a cap-and-invest program.)

Investments in transforming our energy infrastructure, updating clean water infrastructure, boosting transit funding, restoring lands, and training our workforce will yield significant economic growth and job creation. In fact, “green” investments, on average, create more than twice as many jobs per dollar invested compared to traditional fossil fuel-based generating technologies, by redirecting money previously spent on inefficient energy use and imported fuel toward advanced technology, modern infrastructure, and skilled labor.1

The stimulus package could include near-term spending on a range of transportation, manufacturing, construction, building efficiency, neighborhood revitalization, natural resource restoration and workforce development programs and some changes to the tax code. The job creation benefits of many of these programs have been outlined in a report released by the Center for American Progress and the University of Massachusetts’s Political Economy Research Institute, entitled “Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy.” 2 Other spending listed below would inject dollars into clean water infrastructure and transit projects that are waiting on state, tribal and local “ready-to-go” lists to ensure rapid start-up of new construction or maintenance projects.

This multi-billion clean energy and green infrastructure stimulus could include:

  • Transit agencies and ready-to-go transportation projects: Provide $2 billion in assistance to transit agencies to reduce transit fares and expand services, and begin construction on ready-to-go rail and other projects.

  • Home efficiency tax incentives: Congress should extend through 2011 tax credits for efficient new homes and high efficiency heating and cooling equipment. Congress should also 1) adopt a new tax credit for home efficiency retrofits that is based on the percentage of energy savings achieved by the retrofit, 2) make the home efficiency incentives refundable, and 3) include installation costs in the incentives.

  • Energy-Star Home Equipment Deployment: Provide EPA with $10 billion to provide consumers with rebates for purchase of Energy-Star certified appliances, windows, and other residential products.

  • Workforce investment in the Green Jobs Act: Increase appropriations for the Green Jobs Act, authorized in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, to $250 million to provide job training and workforce investment in energy efficiency and renewable-energy installations.

  • Technical fix to renewable energy tax incentive provisions: Address effects of the credit availability crisis on the renewable energy industry by making the renewable production tax credit, investment tax credits and provisions governing accelerated depreciation fully refundable.

  • Clean renewable energy bonds: Increase CREB funding for consumer-owned utilities to $5 billion to jump-start renewable energy projects.

  • The Weatherization Assistance Program: Fully fund the Weatherization Assistance Program at $900 million, the amount Congress has authorized to spend on the program in FY 2009, and build toward a goal of weatherizing 1 million low-income homes.

  • Energy efficiency and conservation block grants: Increase appropriation to $6 billion to fund states, tribes, cities, and counties in pursuing clean energy projects.

  • Solar roofs on Federal buildings: Authorize $3.5 billion to install 2,000 MW of solar power on Federal rooftops, and amend Federal electricity contracting to allow for 30-year power purchasing agreements for renewable energy.

  • New Starts Transit project investments: Fully fund the New Starts Transit budget at the $6.6 billion authorized in Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users.

  • Green school construction and renovation: Support state, tribal and local school modernization, renovation, and repair at $7.25 billion.

  • Green affordable housing HOME block grants: Supplement block grant funding through the HOME program with $1 billion for energy-related projects.

  • HOPE VI program for green community revitalization: Appropriate $800 million for greening HOPE VI projects to meet Energy Star and green communities standards.

  • Smart grid federal matching funds: Fund the Smart Grid Title of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to support $1.3 billion for infrastructure investment and demonstration projects.

  • Green jobs restoring the land: Expand existing programs by $800 million to restore habitat and ecosystems, including parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and wetlands, which will create jobs and return significant economic benefits, especially in rural communities.

  • Manufacturing Extension Partnership: Expand the capacity of domestic manufacturing modernization efforts by increasing MEP funding to $200 million, directed to energy-efficiency improvements.

  • Additional green infrastructure for clean water: Invest in green jobs and effective clean water solutions by funding $6.5 - 10 billion in clean water infrastructure, with at least $1 billion of those funds set-aside for "smart, clean and green" infrastructure grants.

  • “Crusher Credit” rebates for retirement of inefficient vehicles: Initiate a $2.5 billion annual program to incentivize the retirement and scrapage of inefficient vehicles, in exchange for a voucher to be used to acquire an efficient vehicle or for alternative transportation.

  • Retrofit and replace diesel vehicles: Increase appropriations for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) by $550 million to reduce emissions from diesels while creating jobs at manufacturers and supporting public transportation and local schools.

  • Rebates and excise-tax waivers to encourage truckers to install fuel-saving equipment. Provide $235 million to EPA’s SmartWay program to fund a rebate program to help truckers purchase and install fuel-saving equipment, such as idling reduction kits and fuel-efficient tires; waive the federal excise tax on equipment certified by SmartWay to increase fuel efficiency.

We understand that Congress is considering significant aid for domestic automobile manufacturers as part of a stimulus package; the auto sector should also be viewed as a critical "green" investment opportunity. We all have a stake in the health of the American automobile industry. We also need rapid action to reduce our dependence on oil and cut the pollution that is driving global warming. Help for the American auto companies must be aimed not only at getting them through today's crisis but at swiftly retooling to produce dramatically cleaner, higher mileage cars, grow jobs and provide safeguards for taxpayer investment. American auto companies cannot be competitive in a future of insecure, volatile oil markets and intensifying global warming if they make cars only marginally better than they are building today. If they significantly improve the cars and trucks they build, then financial assistance from taxpayers could help spark a revitalization of the industry. Therefore, the aid package should be tied to guaranteed improvement in the greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy of manufacturer's fleets, accelerating compliance with new standards.

Thank you for considering our views.

Very truly yours,

Eli Weissman
Director of Government Relations
American Rivers

Lynn Thorp
National Campaigns Coordinator
Clean Water Action

Mary Beth Beetham
Director of Legislative Affairs
Defenders of Wildlife

Marty Hayden
Legislative Director
Earthjustice

Anna Aurilio
Director, Washington DC Office
Environment America

Steve Cochran
Director, National Climate Campaign
Environmental Defense Fund

Tiernan Sittenfeld
Legislative Director
League of Conservation Voters

Judy Duffy
Advocacy Director
League of Women Voters of the United States

Mike Daulton
Legislative Director
National Audubon Society

Bob Gruenig
Senior Policy Analyst
National Tribal Environmental Council

Corry Westbrook
Legislative Director
National Wildlife Federation

Karen Wayland
Legislative Director
Natural Resources Defense Council

Will Callaway
Legislative Director
Physicians for Social Responsibility

Debbie Sease
National Campaign Director
Sierra Club

Linda Lance
Vice President for Public Policy
The Wilderness Society

Alden Meyer
Director of Strategy and Policy
Union of Concerned Scientists

1 Center for American Progress, November 10, 2008. A Strategy for Green Recovery: Stimulating the Economy Today by Rebuilding
for Future Prosperity, http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/green_recovery_memo.html.

2 http://www.peri.umass.edu/green_recovery.

Last Revised: 12/05/08