The Independent: "McNerney Says Green Bill Would Bring Jobs to District"

This week's edition of The Independent, a weekly newspaper serving Pleasanton, Livermore and Sunol, highlights Congressman Jerry McNerney's support for the PROGRESS ("Program for Real Energy Security Success") Act -- a "bill that will help give the United States more energy independence in the coming years, and create as many as 800,000 jobs":

McNerney said that having worked for 20 years in the field of renewable energy, he knows that in several categories “we have not begun yet to realize the benefits that new energy technology can offer to this country.” One is job creation, where the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi estimates that 800,000 jobs could be created by 2010. The estimate is from the Tellus Institute, said (Rep. McNerney's Communications Director Andrew) Stone.

McNerney noted that job creation is important in his 11th Congressional District, especially in the San Joaquin County portion of it, where unemployment rates have been higher than the remainder of the district.

More renewable energy will also help to move the United States “toward ending our dependence on foreign oil from Middle East countries.” There would also be environmental security, by putting a crimp into global warming, he said.

To find out more about the five-point plan that forms the PROGRESS Act, check out the rest of The Independent's article here (March 8, 2007 edition).

Comments

[Chris Hall]

Jerry,
The direction of job growth in the renewable energy sector is the way to go!

How about a bill that gives incentives(tax breaks,etc.) to industries AND homeowners who make commitments to support this industry and a new direction for our nation.

Altruism is great and I am committed to making my small contribution as a citizen to renewable energy,but in capitalist economies industries will only jump in when the government shows them how to profit from it.

In the long run we all benefit from more jobs and reshaping our economy with an energy base than is more fossil free and less dependent on the Persian Gulf oil spigot.

And maybe we won't have to keep invading other countries to get the that drug this country is hooked on---oil. We will even kill to get this drug.
If that isn't addiction I don't know what is.

This new bill could be America's 12 step program for an oil free life.
Keep up the good work, Jerry!

-Chris Hall