Contact: Dan Levitan
Albany – A broad coalition of environmental, labor, and housing advocates convened by the Center for Working Families praised Governor Paterson’s “45 by 15″ plan announced in today’s State of the State address. The plan calls for New York to meet 45% of its energy needs through improvements in energy efficiency and clean renewable energy.
The Center for Working Families has worked for months crafting a blueprint for a “Green Jobs/Green Homes” program, an unprecedented statewide initiative to perform energy efficiency improvements on one million homes in five years. The program would make New York homes more energy efficient, lower fossil fuel emissions, save money for homeowners, create tens of thousands of jobs, and combat climate change.
“Governor Paterson’s plan is exactly the kind of bold action our economy and our environment need. We have an enormous potential to make New York’s homes more energy efficient, saving homeowners in their energy bills, lowering our carbon footprint, and creating tens of thousands of new ‘green-collar’ jobs,” said Dan Cantor, Working Families Party Executive Director. “We have the opportunity not only to rebuild a greener economy, but to make sure the benefits of green technology are shared by everyone.”
Paid for through the tremendous savings on home energy bills that retrofitting makes possible, the Green Jobs/Green Homesprogram would work without adding to the size of the state’s budget deficit. The Governor’s address today included a strong endorsement of the kind of financing mechanism needed to implement such a program, and for building and training the green collar workforce needed to put it in place.
The Center for Working Families Green Jobs/Green Homes partners agreed:
“The Governor’s energy plans should make New York a leader among states in terms of green jobs creation, not to mention praiseworthy cuts in carbon emissions,” said Rich Schrader, New York Legislative Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
“Governor Paterson’s focus on energy efficiency should result in less pollution and more jobs in environmentally burdened communities,” said Elizabeth C. Yeampierre, Executive Director of UPROSE, and head of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. “We commend the Governor for his commitment to this critical issue.”
“Workers need quality, family-supporting jobs, and large scale energy efficiency projects have the potential to create a lot of them,” said Lavon Chambers of Local 10 Residential Housing& Construction Laborers Union. “We are happy to see the Governor’s leadership on these job-creating initiatives.”
“With Governor Paterson’s leadership, we can make New York a leader both in energy conservation and in making the far-off promise of a green economy a reality today,” added Cantor. “There’s a tremendous amount of work to be done, and we’re excited to start working with leaders in Albany to do it.”
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