Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the Council on
Environmental Quality resigned Saturday night. Below is the text of his
resignation letter, sent to Chair Nancy Sutley:
I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality,
effective today.
On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy,
opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me.
They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.
I have been inundated with calls – from across the political spectrum
– urging me to “stay and fight.”
But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good
conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy
defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting
for the future.
It has been a great honor to serve my country and my President in this
capacity. I thank everyone who has offered support and encouragement.
I am proud to have been able to make a contribution to the clean
energy future. I will continue to do so, in the months and years
ahead.
Oil-patch and Blue Dog Democrats like Gene Green (D-TX) and Jim Matheson
(D-UT) yesterday called for subsidies for the oil and nuclear
industries
to be added to the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill, while criticizing
federal renewable energy and energy efficiency standards.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) criticized the Environmental Protection Agency
for taking initial steps to obey a Supreme Court
mandate
to regulate global warming pollution, saying, “if alphabet agencies can
do what they want without regard to what Congress believes, there’s
something wrong with the
system.”
Transforming the economy through environmental solutions — creating good
jobs and exploring green technologies that reduce global warming and
increase energy independence — is key to our future.
Solving global warming can now be centered on reinvigorating
disadvantaged communities. The economy can be focused on buildups rather
than bailouts. And the focus of energy independence will shift to clean
energy and new technologies.
Connect with 2,000 government leaders and decision-makers, as well as
business, labor and environmental organizations at the Good Jobs, Green
Jobs National Conference for three
days of exceptional educational programs, renowned speakers and
extensive networking opportunities.
The 2009 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference will alternate
between plenary sessions and workshops. The plenary sessions will
provide a stage for prominent national experts while the workshops will
allow participants to explore new ideas and exchange best practices. The
conference will focus on how solutions to environmental challenges can
be used to drive economic development and create successful and
profitable businesses.
Transforming the economy through environmental solutions — creating good
jobs and exploring green technologies that reduce global warming and
increase energy independence — is key to our future.
Solving global warming can now be centered on reinvigorating
disadvantaged communities. The economy can be focused on buildups rather
than bailouts. And the focus of energy independence will shift to clean
energy and new technologies.
Connect with 2,000 government leaders and decision-makers, as well as
business, labor and environmental organizations at the Good Jobs, Green
Jobs National Conference for three
days of exceptional educational programs, renowned speakers and
extensive networking opportunities.
The 2009 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference will alternate
between plenary sessions and workshops. The plenary sessions will
provide a stage for prominent national experts while the workshops will
allow participants to explore new ideas and exchange best practices. The
conference will focus on how solutions to environmental challenges can
be used to drive economic development and create successful and
profitable businesses.
Schedule
7:30 a.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. Welcome
9:30 a.m. Morning Keynote
10:15 a.m. Plenary Panels
12:00 p.m. (noon) Lunch
1:00-6:00 p.m. Advocacy Day – Capitol Hill / Breakout sessions for
those not participating in Advocacy Day
Wal-Mart, in partnership with the Wal-Mart Green Jobs Council (W-GJC),
will host a briefing for Members of Congress, their staff, Congressional
Committees, and the public on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 from 2:00 –
3:00 P.M. EST in the Cannon House Office
Building Room 340 to discuss success stories in creating green jobs. The
interactive panel will be moderated by Wal-Mart’s
SVP for Sustainability, Matt Kistler, and will
include:
Chris Sultemeier, Senior Vice President Fleet and Transportation,
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Kim Saylors-Laster, Vice President Energy, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Dan Lashof, PhD Director of the Climate Center, Natural Resources
Defense Council
Jackie Prince Roberts, Director of Sustainable Technologies,
Environmental Defense Fund
Susan Herndon, Vice President, Lennox Industries
Chris Spain, Chairman of the Board and Chief Strategy Officer,
Hydropoint Data Systems
The panel will build on the key findings of an October 2008 meeting of
the Wal-Mart Green Jobs Council at which top companies identified the
key catalysts and barriers to green job creation. Many other Wal-Mart
executives will be available for discussion after the briefing, as well
as several of the Wal-Mart Green Jobs Council participants representing
leading suppliers in the fields of renewable energy, energy efficiency,
transportation, waste reduction, and water efficiency.
RSVP by 12 P.M. on February 2 to Terrence
Bogans at [email protected]
Senate Finance Committee member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and House
Energy and Commerce Committee member Jay Inslee, D-Wash., will join
Laborers’ International Union general president Terence O’Sullivan,
Sierra Club political director Cathy Duvall, and clean energy business
leaders and workers for a news conference on Tuesday, February 3 at 11
a.m. ET at the United States Capitol to urge Congressional leaders to
take bold action to create a new Green American Dream for working people
by making sure the newly created green jobs are good jobs that can
sustain families and fuel economic recovery.
Speakers will release a new report analyzing the varied quality of
existing green jobs (some paying as little as $8.25 an hour), and urge
Congress to take bold action to ensure that the major public investments
in Congress’ economic recovery and reinvestment plan create a green
economy that rebuilds the middle class and renews the American Dream for
America’s workers.
The report release comes a day before hundreds of labor, environmental
and business advocates go to Capitol Hill — on Wednesday, February 4 —
for Green Jobs Advocacy Day to educate lawmakers about the job-creating
opportunities that exist in the green economy.
Participants
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash.
Terence O’Sullivan, general pres., LIUNA
Cathy Duvall, political dir., Sierra Club
Michael Peck, dir. Human Resources, Gamesa
Dennis Wilde, Gerding Edlen Development
David Foster, exec. dir., Blue Green Alliance
Perrette Hopkins, trainee, Garden State Alliance for a New Economy
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) invites you to a
briefing to discuss the opportunities for green jobs in the United
States and the policies needed to support them. Amidst the growing
global recession, debate among American policymakers is centering on the
need to create well-paying, secure jobs and stimulate the national
economy. At the same time, there is a call to reduce our dependence on
foreign energy and our climate change-inducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The renewable energy and energy efficiency industries can meet these
needs, if bolstered by federal policy that accounts for these positive
externalities and levels the playing field with long-established energy
industries.
This briefing will focus on a recently released green jobs
report
by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and Management Information
Services, Inc (MISI). The report provides a sector-by-sector analysis of
opportunities in the rapidly changing renewable energy (RE) and energy
efficiency (EE) industries as well as a case study of the development of
the RE industry in Colorado. A key finding of this report is that the RE
and EE industries provide more than 9 million jobs and more than $1
trillion in revenue in the United States (as of 2007) and could generate
another 37 million jobs by 2030. Speakers will also discuss policy
options such as a national renewable portfolio standard, long-term
extension of the production tax credit, effective net metering policies,
and policies that improve access to electric transmission
infrastructure, and their potential impact on the development of a
green-collar workforce. Furthermore, the panel will explore the success
of Germany’s renewable sector – a global leader which already generates
$240 billion in annual revenue, employs 250,000 people, and is expected
to provide more jobs than the country’s auto industry by 2020.
Speakers for this event include:
Brad Collins, Executive Director, American Solar Energy Society (ASES)
and Publisher, SOLAR TODAY magazine
Roger Bezdek, President, Management Information Strategies, Inc.
Mario Soos, Counselor on Environment and Energy, German Embassy in
Washington, DC
This briefing is free and open to the public. No
RSVP required. For more information, please
contact Amy Sauer at [email protected] or (202) 662-1892.
President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly completed his
Cabinet with the
selection of Rep. Hilda
Solis
(D-CA) as Secretary of Labor. Solis, a five-term representative from
East Los Angeles, is a progressive leader in the fight for green jobs,
as both a “stalwart friend of the
unions” and
the author of the first environmental justice
law in the
nation. At this summer’s National Clean Energy
Summit, convened by the Center for
American Progress Action Fund, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Solis spoke about her commitment to solving
global warming through a clean energy economy for all:
Our nation is at a crossroads right now. We can choose to
transition to a clean energy economy that secures our energy supply
and combats climate change or we can continue down the same old path
of uncertainty and insecurity that we’re currently in. Current
economic conditions, particularly for under-served, under-represented
minority communities underscore the need to transition to clean energy
technology.
At a time of fiscal belt tightening, when some would put environmental
priorities on the back burner, there are many who believe that investing
in a green economy now is the best way to achieve both short and long
term economic solutions. A recent paper by the Center for American
Progress and the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research
Institute, “Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start
Building a Low Carbon Economy,” finds that to promote economic mobility,
growth, job creation, and regain technological leadership in the global
innovation marketplace, we must fundamentally change how we produce and
consume energy in this country and transform our economy to a low-carbon
model. Investing in clean energy and efficiency will enable the United
States to regain technological leadership in the global innovation
marketplace, grow our economy, reduce global warming emissions, and
invest in national security.
Please join the Center for American Progress and three of the country’s
leading advocates for investments in a green economy for a discussion on
how each step of an economic recovery package (stabilization, stimulus,
recovery, and growth) can be greened, and explore both national and
state perspectives on policy solutions towards transforming our economy
to a low-carbon model.
Copies of Hot, Flat, and Crowded will be available for purchase at the
event.
Introduction by:
Joseph Romm, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Featured Speakers:
Governor Ed Rendell (D – PA)
Thomas Friedman, columnist, New York Times; author, Hot, Flat, and
Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America
Carol Browner, Principal, The Albright Group
LLC
Moderated by:
Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Last Saturday, September 27, tens of thousands of Americans organized
nearly 700 Green Jobs Now events in all 50 states calling upon their
elected officials to make an inclusive green economy a top priority. The
national day of action may now be over, but our movement is just
beginning! Join 1Sky Campaign Director Gillian Caldwell, Green for All
President and Founder Van Jones, and We Campaign
CEO Cathy Zoi for a national conference
call this Friday to
discuss how we can build upon the momentum from September 27.
Please RSVP
here for this call.
You will receive the call in number via e-mail upon completion of the
form.
Have questions for the guest speakers? Email them in advance to
[email protected].
