This week, the Obama administration released its proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget. It included several investments in the clean energy economy that Energy Secretary Steven Chu said would put Americans back to work, help build a clean energy economy, spur energy innovation, and reduce our dependence on oil.
Chu’s comments were made during his testimony this week before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Among the highlights he listed from the Department of Energy’s proposed FY 2011 budget were $325 million to promote energy efficiency in vehicles technologies; $302 million for solar power; $123 million for wind power; $300 million for the weatherization assistance program; and $331 billion for advanced building and industrial energy efficiency technologies. Chu also noted the administration’s proposal to expand the Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit by $5 billion – a move praised by the Apollo Alliance – to help support domestic clean energy manufacturers, among other programs.
The new budget reflects the Obama administration’s goal of limiting harmful greenhouse gas emissions. It provides funding to the Environmental Protection Agency to implement a reporting rule for measuring GHG emissions, as well as funding for regulations to curb GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act. The budget also includes a placeholder for funds that would be generated by a cap-and-trade program.
While the administration increased the federal government’s support for clean energy in the proposed budget, it also curbed support for the fossil fuels industry by proposing the elimination of taxpayer subsidies that could be worth as much as $40 billion over 10 years.
Click here to read Energy Secretary Chu’s Senate testimony about the FY11 budget proposal as it relates to energy issues. For a deeper analysis of the budget’s clean energy provisions and a critique of the provision that would add $36 billion in loan guarantee authority for the nuclear power sector, visit the Climate Progress blog.
New Study Finds Transportation Investment Proposal Would Create Nearly Half a Million Jobs
As the country continues to wait for the Senate to unveil a series of job creation proposals, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has just released a study analyzing how many jobs would be created if the Senate passes transportation infrastructure investments that have been recommended by Transportation for America (T4America). The Apollo Alliance serves on the Executive Committee of T4America, a coalition that was formed by Smart Growth America, Reconnecting America and the Surface Transportation Policy Project. It now counts some 400 organizations as supporters of its agenda to create “a new national transportation program that will take America into the 21st Century by building a modernized infrastructure and healthy communities where people can live, work and play.”
The T4America jobs package would allocate $34.3 billion in additional funding for infrastructure investments that prioritize the repair and maintenance of highways, bridges, and public transit; the preservation of existing transit jobs and services; and the expansion of access to jobs resulting from enhanced public transportation. According to the EPI report, An Analysis of Transportation for America’s Jobs Proposals, the T4America jobs package would create approximately 480,000 direct and indirect jobs, 49,660 of which would be in the manufacturing sector. The EPI report also found that the T4America jobs proposal would disproportionately create jobs for low-wage workers, workers without a college degree, and African-Americans and Latino workers—all of whom were hit hard by the recession.
Read the new EPI analysis at the Economic Policy Institute website, and click here to learn more about T4America.
In other news …
*This week is Clean Energy Week! The Apollo Alliance is proud to be among the many organizations that are participating in Clean Energy Week, a week of actions and events focused on the need to enact comprehensive federal clean energy and climate policies as a means of creating vast numbers of new jobs, ensuring U.S. global leadership in the emerging clean energy era, enhancing our security, and preserving our planet for the generations to follow. Click here to check out the array of clean energy events that took place this week under the banner of Clean Energy Week.
*Tune in to Link TV next Friday, Feb. 12, for a special program called ColorLines: Race and Economic Recovery. The show will include a segment on SCOPE of Los Angeles, the organization that convenes the LA Apollo Alliance, and its efforts to create green jobs for communities of color. Link TV can be found on DIRECTV Channel 375 or DISH Network Channel 9410. The program will air at 8:30 PM EST. For a sneak peak, go to http://colorlines.com/recovery.