commentPresidential Climate Action Project Announces Stimulus Plan
The Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP) has announced the release of a detailed environmental blueprint for the next president of the United States. The plan has been two years in the making and is meant to help tackle urgent economic and environmental concerns. An initiative of the Wirth Chair at the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, the PCAP is staffed with environmental and economic experts such as former Colorado Senator Gary Hart and Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, a producer of eco-friendly carpet tiles.
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PCAP’s plan was delivered to president-elect Barack Obama’s transition team last Wednesday. The recommendations stress the importance of implementing sustainable practices in a fashion that stimulates the U.S. economy and creates a new internationally competitive green work force.
Bold long-term goals like halving oil consumption and reducing greenhouse gases by 30 percent by 2020, upping gas mileage on new cars to 50 MPG, blocking the construction of new coal plants, and standardizing zero-energy buildings by 2020, preface a set of immediate actions to be taken during the president’s first 100 days in office. The plan urges Obama to immediately revitalize the Clean Air Act, partner with China to reduce emissions, end political interference with federal climate science programs, and shift government transportation funds to mass transit infrastructure and high-speed rail systems. It also calls for Obama to lay the groundwork for a 50-year farm plan to heal depleted soil in the Midwest and transform it into a breadbasket of renewable energy. Other suggested economic initiatives include phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, encouraging cap-and-trade carbon allowance auctions, funding the Green Jobs Act, and allocating funds for local weatherization assistance and state energy programs.
The economic crisis has not affected PCAP’s stance. "President-elect Obama has made it clear that he will not back off his intention to make energy and climate security top priorities, the financial crisis notwithstanding,” says PCAP executive director Bill Becker, former director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Central Regional Office. “It’s clear he understands that the best path to economic recovery is to invest in a new, green economy—an investment that is long overdue. PCAP is blueprint for how the president and Congress can put us on that new path.”
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