USA: Letter writing campaign for green job funding / forest restoration
At the start of the 111th Congress, Members of Congress are building
support for an economic stimulus package that advocates for creating
green jobs. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is circulating a letter to
her colleagues asking for their support to send a letter to the Obama
administration asking for $500 million over two years to fund
watershed restoration and road removal on National Forest System
lands. Take Action! Calls Needed by End of Day Friday: Please call
your Senators and ask them to sign on to Senator Cantwell’s Dear
Colleague Letter on Watershed Restoration Stimulus. To sign on, Senate
staff should contact Matt Souza or Joel Merkle in Senator Cantwell’s
office.
Investing in green jobs on the 193 million acres of our
national forests will provide the opportunity to immediately create
high-wage jobs through fixing needed infrastructure, reclaiming
unneeded infrastructure, and protecting clean drinking water and fish
and wildlife habitat. The letter proposes an investment of $500
million over two years through the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation
Initiative (LRRI), which would produce 3,500 direct jobs per year. The
LRRI, created in Fiscal Year 2008, directed funds to be used for
reclaiming unneeded forest roads, upgrading culverts, and performing
critical maintenance on necessary forest roads. Economists estimate
that road reclamation work could produce 14.5 direct jobs per million
dollars spent. This work provides the same type of high-wage,
high-skill jobs as road construction and the vast majority of these
jobs would go directly to rural workers whose lives are closely
connected to our national forests. Funding for the first year would go
to shovel-ready projects including culvert repairs to improve fish
passage, basic road and trail maintenance, and removing unneeded
roads. Some funding would go towards Forest Service contract
specialists, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) planners,
contract implementation oversight, and biologists to prepare road
decommissioning projects in the second year of the stimulus package. A
similar effort has taken place in the US House of Representatives. In
December, Representatives Jay Inlsee (D-WA) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
sent a letter with 29 colleagues to House leadership calling for a
Public Lands Stimulus Package to support economic growth through
investment in restoration, road removal, and maintenance needs on
public lands. http://americanlands.org/index.php?id=398
— Posted to http://forestpolicyresearch.com via gmail to posterous and
also to forestpolicyresearch@yahoogroups.com
Economically and Environmentally green jobs are always helpful.. though economically it effects, however it has the big advantage on the other side. More green jobs will help to solve a big problem of “Global Warming” … Think of CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility is only about two aspects: 1) Reducing the Negative Effects: Steps taken by a company to neutralize, minimize or offset the harmful effects caused by its processes and product-usage 2) Increasing the Positive Contributions: Further steps taken using its resources, core competence, skills, location and funds for the benefit of people and the environment Learn more on CSR, Green, Energy, Renewable Energy, Clean Technology, Ethical Consumption, Low Carbon, etc from the industry experts only at http://www.justmeans.com …
Sandeep Channa
http://www.justmeans.com