A coalition of labor and environmental advocates are hailing the findings of a new report that demonstrates how smarter environmental policies can lead to significant green jobs creation.
The report "Smarter, Cleaner, Stronger: Secure Jobs, Clean Environment, and Less Foreign Oil" details for the first time on a national and a state-by-state basis, the economic benefits that will result from energy policies that stimulate the development of clean energy technologies.
The report was conducted by Redefining Progress, a California-based think tank, and was endorsed by such influential groups as the United Steelworkers, the Sierra Club, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Natural Resources Defense Council, UNITE HERE and the New Jersey Work Environmental Council.
"It’s time to explode the myth that you can’t create high-paying jobs, and protect the environment at the same time that’s a false choice" says Dave Foster, District 11 Director of the United Steelworkers.
The "Smarter, Cleaner, Stronger" report provides a comprehensive new policy package that will stimulate the creation of approximately 1.4 million more new jobs by 2025 while lowering energy bills that will save U.S. consumers an astounding $170 billion per year.
America would reduce dependence on foreign oil by slashing its imported oil by 1.7 billion barrels per year. Annual GDP would increase by $123 billion in 2025. And, if the policies outlined in this package were adopted, the U.S. would cut in half the amount of greenhouse gases that would be emitted into the atmosphere under a "business as usual" approach.
"Producing 20 percent of our electricity with renewable energy by 2020 will create good jobs and save consumers money while reducing our growing dependence on energy imports from politically unstable regions around the world," said Alden Meyer, Director of Strategy and Policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "It’s time to switch from the polluting energy resources of the past to the advanced clean energy technologies of the future. The technologies we need are available today. All it takes is the political will."
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