House Passes Climate Change Bill: Good News for Green Job Creation
The House of Representatives passed a groundbreaking climate and energy bill on Friday. Democrats have championed the legislation as a measure that would increase national security through diminished dependence on foreign oil, create jobs in everything from alternative energy and conservation as well as the trading of carbon credits. They also believe that enacting this bill will reestablish the US as a world leader and prove the US is serrious about climate change and the environment. Republicans are beginning a campaign disparaging the bill as an economic catastrophe.
The truth is that the climate change bill will lead to the creation of thousands if not millions of green jobs. Utility bills will increase, but by a fraction of the cost the Republicans would have Americans believe. The 1200 page bill is by no means perfect, compromises were made in order to ensure that the bill would have enough votes to pass, but as Voltaire wisely said: ” the perfect is the enemy of the good”.
The bill mandates a 17-percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and a 83-percent cut by 2050, reductions that will be accomplished by putting a price on carbon dioxide through a cap-and-trade system. It mandates that 20 percent of electricity comes from renewable sources and increased energy efficiency by 2020. And the legislation gives electric utilities, coal plants, energy-intensive manufacturers, farmers, petroleum refiners, and other industries special protections to help them transition to new, less-fossil fuel-intensive ways of doing business.
The bill will now be sent to the Senate for approval. In his radio address this weekend, President Obama had these words for 100 seat chamber: “My call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this, w e cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don’t believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth.” I could not have said it better myself!
Short URL: http://www.mygreeneducation.com/?p=3371
Posted by Tracey A. Smith
on Jun 29 2009. Filed under Alternative Energy, Carbon Trading, Careers, Government Regulation, Green Jobs.
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