LANSING – A $100 billion national green energy program could add 60,000 jobs in Michigan over two years in businesses developing alternative energy sources, providing more energy efficient buildings and electric transmission systems and boosting mass transit/freight rail programs a report released Tuesday said.
The proposal before Congress analyzed by the University of Massachusetts/Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute involves $50 billion in tax credits to encourage retrofitting buildings to improve efficiency, $46 billion in direct government spending and $4 billion in loan guarantees for retrofitting buildings and investing in alternative energy.
“By investing the green economy, we can create good jobs, increase our energy independence, and help to reduce the dangerous effects of global warming in Michigan,” said Steve Gutterman of Clean Water Action and 1Sky, part of a coalition of labor and environmental groups, which released the report. “At this critical time, we need real solutions for the issues that face Michigan residents and all Americans, and by investing in the green economy, we can start the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
The proponents said the green energy programs would boost, rather than sap, the economy, especially compared to spending comparable sums in the oil industry. The report said construction and manufacturing industries particularly would see benefits.
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