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New Initiative Makes Healthier Housing Affordable

WASHINGTON, DC, September 29, 2004 (ENS) – Environmentally related childhood diseases, such as asthma, lead poisoning and cancer, cost the United States nearly $55 billion annually. More than 2.5 million families live in substandard housing that is a springboard for these diseases. The solution is affordable housing that is environmentally friendly, and on Tuesday, the Green Communities Initiative was launched to supply more than 8,500 healthier homes. The initiative will offer financing, grants and technical assistance to developers to build affordable housing that promotes health, conserves energy and natural resources and provides easy access to jobs, schools and services. The five-year, $550 million commitment is a partnership of The Enterprise Foundation/Enterprise Social Investment Corporation (ESIC) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), along with the American Institute of Architects, the American Planning Association, as well as corporate, financial and philanthropic organizations. Five million dollars will be awarded as grants to assist in planning, designing and building Green Communities homes. Fifty million will go to low interest loans to enable developers to acquire sites and start construction. And $500 million will be used for equity investments to fund rehabilitation and construction through ESIC. “Too many Americans live in unhealthy, inefficient and […]

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Presidential Candidates' Energy Policies Matter of Degree

by Robert Manor, September 29, 2004 As oil prices soar, so does the importance of energy as an issue in the presidential campaign. The nation's growing reliance on overseas sources of energy has foreign policy implications for President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, but it is a local issue for voters–as close as the nearest gasoline pump. The candidates hold similar positions on most energy questions–favoring a mix of conservation and technology–but they disagree on key points, such as oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness, with Bush pushing for more production of oil and other fuels and Kerry leaning toward alternative energy sources. The similarity "tells you the policies are crafted toward the vote in November," said Jerry Taylor, director of natural resource studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. "For the most part, the policies are the same because they are both looking for the same swing voters." Both candidates support nuclear power, although Bush is the more enthusiastic. Both favor producing more energy from renewable resources, although Kerry's proposal is more ambitious. Kerry and Bush favor building a pipeline to deliver natural gas from Alaska to the lower 48 states. They want to foster new technology to use coal […]

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British Columbia: $700 Million in Wind Gets Nod

URL: http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/news/story.html?id=6acc1663-065e-4b04-a210-85e5df78138b Website: http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/news/story.html?id=6acc1663-065e-4b04-a210-85e5df78138b     

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