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Switchboard posts about economic recovery
Critical Investments in Transit and Clean Energy
As Congress and the White House work out an economic stimulus package, investments in clean energy, public transit and energy efficiency must be an important part of the equation, NRDC experts say. Our lawmakers' choices will be critical in affecting our nation's ability to create green jobs, save consumers money and reduce global warming pollution. Investing in a clean energy economy would leverage our country's greatest strengths -- our innovators, entrepreneurs and world-class workforce -- to create a vibrant economy today and into the future.
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- Rich Kassel
- Blog | About
- Posted October 21, 2009 in Curbing Pollution
, Environmental Justice
, Health and the Environment
, The Media and the Environment
, U.S. Law and Policy
I just received a copy of EPA's Report to Congress on its Diesel Emissions Reduction Program, and it's encouraging news. With nearly $50 million in EPA's FY 2008 budget for this program, EPA made 119 grants nationwide that enabled more...continued→
- Tags:
- diesel, EPA, polllution, portpollution, reporttocongress, retrofit, stimulus
- Kaid Benfield
- Blog | About
- Posted September 28, 2009 in Environmental Justice
, Living Sustainably
, Solving Global Warming
There has been a lot written about how federal stimulus money has not done as much as one might hope for existing urban communities. By contrast, quite a bit of the money has instead been slated for highway projects. A shining exception,...continued→
- Tags:
- climate, community, globalwarming, greenjobs, neighborhood, revitalization, smartercities, smartgrowth, stimulus, sustainability, transit
- Laura Sanchez
- Blog | About
- Posted September 24, 2009 in Green Enterprise
Few things in my frenzied, busy life these days are as stable and reassuring as the sun shining. I grew up in the rural Southern New Mexico town of Deming, where the sun was pretty much always shining. Growing up...continued→
- Tags:
- newmexico, richardson, schools, solar, stimulus
- Cai Steger
- Blog | About
- Posted September 22, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
The second round of 30% cash grants for renewable projects was awarded today by DOE and Treasury. I gave some context for these grants, as well as discussing potential concerns in a post a few weeks back covering the first...continued→
- Tags:
- cashgrants, cleanenergy, deployment, investment, markettransformation, policy, renewableenergy, solar, stimulus, subsidies, taxcredits, wind
- Cai Steger
- Blog | About
- Posted September 1, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
Today, the Department of Energy and Treasury Department announced the first set of cash grant recipients to take advantage of a new Stimulus program for renewable projects. (The cash grant program allows renewable developers or associated parties to receive an...continued→
- Tags:
- cashgrants, cleanenergy, deployment, investment, markettransformation, policy, renewableenergy, stimulus, taxcredits, wind
- Samir Succar
- Blog | About
- Posted July 22, 2009 in Solving Global Warming
LBNL/EERE released another annual report on wind market trends. It covers the usual collection of market data points, capacity additions, etc. PDF: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/reports/2008-wind-technologies.pdf LBNL Publications: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/re-pubs.html Notable among the findings is that US now tops international wind capacity rankings (that...continued→
- Tags:
- renewableenergy, stimulus, wind
- Lane Burt
- Blog | About
- Posted July 17, 2009 in Solving Global Warming
DOE has been rolling through approvals of state energy plans and releasing huge chunks of the $3.1 billion dollars available through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act for State Energy Programs. All told, 29 states and several territories have received...continued→
- Tags:
- buildingcodes, energyefficiency, stimulus
- Kim Ranney
- Blog | About
- Posted June 26, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
Retired professor wants to build car-free village in a San Francisco suburb. Rock snot is invading New York. Vermont farmers change cows' diets to lower their emissions. Coal mining costs five times more in deaths than it provides in...continued→
- Tags:
- carbonemissions, cleanenergy, electricvehicles, globalwarming, mountaintopremoval, recycling, stimulus
- Kim Ranney
- Blog | About
- Posted May 22, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
House committee passes the American Clean Energy and Security Act, a bill that will make significant investments in clean energy and reducing global warming pollution. President Obama announces ground-breaking global warming pollution standards for cars and trucks. Secretary Chu...continued→
- Tags:
- BPA, cleanenergy, colonycollapsedisorder, globalwarming, pollution, recycling, stimulus, walkableurbanism
- Kaid Benfield
- Blog | About
- Posted May 12, 2009 in Living Sustainably
Just last week, my NRDC colleague Nancy Stoner pointed out that the federal program that provides water infrastructure to local communities is essentially subsidizing sprawl. This is because the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (an atrocious name if I've ever...continued→
- Tags:
- community, development, infrastructure, maryland, smartgrowth, sprawl, stimulus, wastewater
- Samir Succar
- Blog | About
- Posted May 4, 2009 in Solving Global Warming
Over the weekend, the Department of Interior announced a new initiative funded through the stimulus that includes $41 million to "advance the nation's development and transmission of renewable energy on public lands." Other portions of the $300 million will be...continued→
- Tags:
- departmentofinterior, interiordepartment, renewableenergy, salazar, stimulus, transmission, transmissionlines, transmissionplanning
- Barry Nelson
- Blog | About
- Posted April 29, 2009 in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
The third consecutive dry year in California has received extensive media coverage - and will receive even more attention this summer. Some simple facts and a few recent quotes from the media demonstrate the water management challenge California faces -...continued→
- Tags:
- california, delta, deltavision, drought, stimulus, virtualriver
- Kim Ranney
- Blog | About
- Posted April 17, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
Big news: EPA announces plans to begin carbon regulation. Read David Doniger's response on Switchboard. He'll host a live chat about the announcement on Switchboard this Monday at 1 pm. Post your questions here. Obama outlines plans for high-speed...continued→
- Tags:
- carbon, energyefficiency, EPA, highspeedrail, leadpoisoning, oceans, solar, stimulus, trains, wind
- Doug Obegi
- Blog | About
- Posted April 16, 2009 in Living Sustainably
Even though it hasn't rained in the past couple of days, the past couple days have seen some good news for farmers, urban water agencies and the environment. It's a welcome change from the parade of bad news about water allocations...continued→
- Tags:
- california, fish, NRDC, stimulus, virtualriver, water, waterprogram, waterrecycling
- Lane Burt
- Blog | About
- Posted March 30, 2009 in U.S. Law and Policy
DOE released the funding distribution for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) from the recovery act (ARRA) late last week. With this action, we now know as much as we are going to about the destination of the...continued→
- Tags:
- energyefficiency, stimulus
- Kim Ranney
- Blog | About
- Posted March 27, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
In the news this week: Turn out the lights, please! Earth Hour is on Saturday at 8:30 pm (find out which sites will go dark). NRDC's Rob Perks makes sense of the EPA's mountaintop removal announcements on his Switchboard blog...continued→
- Tags:
- earthhour, electricvehicles, energyefficiency, exxonvaldez, greenjobs, mountaintopremoval, recycle, solar, stimulus, twitter
- Kaid Benfield
- Blog | About
- Posted March 16, 2009 in Living Sustainably
, Moving Beyond Oil
, Solving Global Warming
, U.S. Law and Policy
One of the sad ironies of our time is that, as demand for public transportation is soaring to levels not seen in 50 years, the recession has dampened government support for transit. Another sad irony is that, just as...continued→
- Tags:
- publictransportation, servicecuts, smartgrowth, stimulus, transit
- Greenlaw from NRDC China
- Blog | About
- Posted March 13, 2009 in Greening China
NRDC has been working in China for over twelve years on such issues as energy efficiency, green buildings, clean energy technologies, environmental governance and public participation, and green supply chain issues. This China Environmental News Alert is a weekly compilation...continued→
- Tags:
- airpollution, BarbaraFinamore, China, climatechange, g-20, Jiangsu, obama, pollution, renewableenergy, stimulus, taihu, trees, USA, water, waterpollution
- Rich Kassel
- Blog | About
- Posted March 12, 2009 in Curbing Pollution
, Environmental Justice
, Green Enterprise
, Health and the Environment
, Living Sustainably
, Solving Global Warming
, U.S. Law and Policy
After a four-month hiatus, my monthly column at the Gotham Gazette is back up and running. If you don't know the Gotham Gazette, it's a great place to read about NYC's political and policy debates, with columns on just about...continued→
- Tags:
- gothamgazette, newyork, newyorkcity, stimulus
- Kaid Benfield
- Blog | About
- Posted March 9, 2009 in Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
, Solving Global Warming
Several days ago I made the trip from DC to New York and back via Amtrak's Acela Express, my mode of choice for the last decade or so. It's less expensive than the air shuttles, much more comfortable, much...continued→
- Tags:
- acela, globalwarming, highspeedrail, smartgrowth, stimulus
- Deron Lovaas
- Blog | About
- Posted March 4, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
The single biggest pot of money provided to states and local jurisdictions for investments in transportation infrastructure -- a $27.5 billion shot-in-the-arm -- is more flexible than many realize, and President Obama and the recovery.gov web site should remind governors...continued→
- Tags:
- changeinwashington, highways, infrastructure, rail, stimulus, transportation policy
- Cai Steger
- Blog | About
- Posted February 26, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
Today, President Obama’s new budget was officially released. Those interested only in the energy provisions can skip here, although a look at the actual draft budget is extremely informative. As usual, more industrious and well-connected sorts have beaten me to...continued→
- Tags:
- deployment, federalbudget, innovation, investment, markettransformation, obamaadministration, oil, policy, renewableenergy, stimulus
- Kim Ranney
- Blog | About
- Posted February 20, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
President Obama goes to Canada. Grist, the Thin Green Line and Green Inc weigh in on the trip and the President's stance on the tar sands. Switchboard bloggers write about it here. The Arctic is burping nitrous oxide, a...continued→
- Tags:
- coalfiredpowerplants, electricvehicles, EPA, greenhousegas, obama, renewableenergy, stimulus, tarsands, windpower
- Kaid Benfield
- Blog | About
- Posted February 20, 2009 in Living Sustainably
, Moving Beyond Oil
, Solving Global Warming
, The Media and the Environment
A number of times now, I've been drawn to Charlotte (somewhat against my North Carolina-bred instincts, given what the Queen City has been) for blog posts about the city's rejuvenation through transit-oriented development. It is a real success story,...continued→
- Tags:
- charlotte, community, highways, mon-fayette, smartgrowth, stimulus, transit
- Lane Burt
- Blog | About
- Posted February 18, 2009 in Solving Global Warming
It's a recession! You have to spend to help us get our economy back on track! No wait, you're supposed to save, because you have too much debt and all that spending is what got us into this mess in...continued→
- Tags:
- buildings, efficiencystandards, energyefficiency, stimulus
- Cai Steger
- Blog | About
- Posted February 17, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
Given that President Obama signed the Stimulus bill in Colorado yesterday (after touring a solar facility), I thought it might be useful to discuss some of the major renewable energy provisions within the Stimulus package, and provide some detail as...continued→
- Tags:
- investment, markettransformation, policy, renewableenergy, stimulus, taxcredits
- NRDC News
- Blog | About
- Posted February 17, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
Susan Casey Lefkowitz warns that tar sands extraction is unlikely to ever be environmentally sustainable in a Bloomberg article and encourages President Obama to steer clear of supporting tar sands on his trip to Canada... Meanwhile, Patrice Simms calls for...continued→
- Tags:
- coal, energyefficiency, mercury, obama, stimulus, tarsands
- Barry Nelson
- Blog | About
- Posted February 17, 2009 in U.S. Law and Policy
Today, President Obama signed a $787 billion economic stimulus package. NRDC staff worked hard to ensure that the final package includes funding for cutting edge water solutions to help California meet its needs during the current drought and prepare...continued→
- Tags:
- california, drought, stimulus, urbanstormwatermanagement, virtualriver, wastewaterrecycling, waterprogram, wateruseefficiency
- Nancy Stoner
- Blog | About
- Posted February 17, 2009 in Living Sustainably
The pundits all debated whether the stimulus bill should change policy or just create jobs, but when it comes to funding water and wastewater infrastructure, it did both. The final legislation put $6 billion into funding ready-to-go water and wastewater...continued→
- Tags:
- infrastructure, jobs, stimulus, sustainability, water, waterprogram
- Lane Burt
- Blog | About
- Posted February 16, 2009 in Green Enterprise
, Solving Global Warming
A few days ago I broke down the efficiency policies in play in the recovery bill and said, "...the best case scenario would be for Congress to adopt the House provisions in conference (with the exception of the Senate's version...continued→
- Tags:
- buildings, energyefficiency, stimulus
- Kaid Benfield
- Blog | About
- Posted February 13, 2009 in Living Sustainably
, Solving Global Warming
I am immensely grateful to my colleagues at NRDC and in the broader smart growth movement for being on top of what's been going on in the stimulus negotiations, particularly with respect to transportation investment. I know the legislation...continued→
- Tags:
- community, completestreets, connectivity, johnnorquist, neighborhood, newurbanism, smartgrowth, stimulus, streetnetwork
- Lane Burt
- Blog | About
- Posted February 10, 2009 in Green Enterprise
No one says it better than the President. "...why would that be a waste of money?" He is referring to efficiency generally and specifically to federal buildings and home weatherization. He's right. It's not a waste of money. It's a...continued→
- Tags:
- buildings, economicrecovery, energyefficiency, stimulus
- Frances Beinecke
- Blog | About
- Posted February 10, 2009 in Green Enterprise
, Moving Beyond Oil
, Solving Global Warming
, U.S. Law and Policy
For several months, President Obama has been telling Americans that green energy investment is a path to economic recovery. In the last several days, Washington got the message loud and clear. Not only did the city play host to 2,000...continued→
- Tags:
- bluegreenalliance, energyefficiency, greeneconomy, greenjobs, liquidcoal, nuclearpower, stimulus
- Alex Wang
- Blog | About
- Posted February 5, 2009 in Greening China
The past few days have brought a flurry of news about the second portion of the 4 trillion yuan Chinese economic stimulus to be released. This amount (130 billion yuan or US$19 billion) is to include 11 billion yuan for...continued→
- Tags:
- china, economicrecovery, greenjobs, stimulus
- NRDC News
- Blog | About
- Posted February 4, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
Today Interior Secretary Salazar canceled leases to drill for fuel on federal land in Utah; the decision marks a victory for NRDC and other environmental groups that protested the leases during the Bush administration. In the Washington Post Sharon Buccino...continued→
- Tags:
- alberthuang, AP, canada, canadianpress, carcinogens, compost, deronlovaas, environmentalmagazine, francesbeinecke, greenbuilding, grist, interiorsecretary, lawsuit, nancymarks, newjersey, nuclearweapons, obama, PPG, radiopacifica, sharonbuccino, slate, stannorris, stimulus, susancaseylefkowitz, tarsands, utahoildrilling, washingtonpost, WBAI
- Deron Lovaas
- Blog | About
- Posted February 3, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
Watching the Senate debate on the economic recovery bill, I am reminded of a remarkable event in 2001. The Surface Transportation Policy Project held an awards dinner to celebrate the tenth anniversary of ISTEA, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of...continued→
- Tags:
- globalwarming, highways, infrastructure, lightrail, oildependence, publictransit, rail, stimulus, transportation policy
- Frances Beinecke
- Blog | About
- Posted January 31, 2009 in Solving Global Warming
A day spent in Davos would make you think that we are the verge of policy and political breakthroughs in climate change. And we are. But don't underestimate how tough it will be to get the strongest bill possible out...continued→
- Tags:
- algore, capandinvest, copenhagen, davos, economicstimulus, globalwarming, globalwarmingbill, stimulus
- Kim Ranney
- Blog | About
- Posted January 30, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
President Obama kicked off the week by telling the EPA to reconsider a request by California to impose stricter limits on tailpipe emissions. In other news: Exposure to the coal ash spill in Tennessee could lead to serious health problems....continued→
- Tags:
- algore, BPA, CFL, coalash, globalwarming, LED, recycle, stimulus, tailpipeemissions, tva, urbanplanning, wind
- NRDC News
- Blog | About
- Posted January 29, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
In Reuters Frances Beinecke discusses the growing support for climate change plans and designs for a clean energy future... While in the Wall Street Journal Deron Lovaas praises Congress for increasing funds for mass transit in the stimulus bill; according...continued→
- Tags:
- ABC, AP, deronlovaas, EPA waiver, francesbeinecke, globalwarming, jakeschmidt, justinhorner, NPR, obamaadministration, oceanshealth, reuters, rolandhwang, sarahchasis, stimulus, wallstreetjournal
- Alex Wang
- Blog | About
- Posted January 28, 2009 in Curbing Pollution
, Greening China
Barbara Finamore and I had an article in the China Daily last week concerning pledges of “green stimulus” in China and the U.S. It has been a bad air week in Beijing with the API hitting a smoggy 131 (Grade...continued→
- Tags:
- china, economicrecovery, efficiency, pollution, postolympics, stimulus
- Erin Allweiss
- Blog | About
- Posted January 28, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
I'm happy to report that the House not only passed the stimulus, but it passed the amendment introduced by Rep. Nadler (D-NY) to increase transit funding by $3 billion. This means a total of $12 billion for transit in the...continued→
- Tags:
- congress, globalwarming, renewableenergy, stimulus, transportation
- Deron Lovaas
- Blog | About
- Posted January 28, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
The amendment I wrote about just a few hours ago was just passed by voice vote! That means little or no opposition against it. This is a good augury for public transportation, as I imply in the statement we just sent...continued→
- Tags:
- changeinwashington, infrastructure, legislation, lightrail, oildependence, publictransit, rail, stimulus, transportation policy, victories
- Deron Lovaas
- Blog | About
- Posted January 28, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
As I’ve written about on these pages and in the Huffington Post, the transportation provisions in the recovery bill need to tilt more towards saving oil and cutting global warming pollution, meaning public transportation and rail. I’m not the only...continued→
- Tags:
- changeinwashington, energy, infrastructure, legislation, lightrail, oildependence, publictransit, rail, stimulus, transportation policy
- Erin Allweiss
- Blog | About
- Posted January 28, 2009 in Solving Global Warming
It's been quite the week. Last Tuesday President-elect Barack Obama came to the Hill to be sworn in, and yesterday President Obama returned to meet with lawmakers about the much anticipated economic recovery package. NRDC's experts have been weighing in...continued→
- Tags:
- congress, economicrecovery, efficiency, energy, energylegislation, globalwarming, renewableenergy, stimulus, transportation
- Nancy Stoner
- Blog | About
- Posted January 26, 2009 in Curbing Pollution
, Living Sustainably
Congress is about to make a decision that could affect whether your family and future generations will have clean streams to swim in, fish that are safe to eat, and safe, sufficient tap water to meet your needs. What am...continued→
- Tags:
- greenjobs, stimulus, stormwater, water, waterprogram
- Deron Lovaas
- Blog | About
- Posted January 19, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
Walking through a checklist of items needed for my trek to downtown D.C. from the suburb of College Park (by bicycle, no less!) for the Inauguration tomorrow, I keep reminding myself of a fact of life: After the dust has...continued→
- Tags:
- cars, changeinwashington, globalwarming, highways, infrastructure, legislation, oildependence, policy, publictransit, rail, sprawl, stimulus, transportation policy
- NRDC News
- Blog | About
- Posted January 16, 2009 in The Media and the Environment
NRDC's stimulus package suggestions are mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article reviewing the progress of the package... Nathanael Greene speaks with Time about the possible negative environmental effects of certain biofuels... Brandweek publishes (almost verbatim) NRDC's steps to green...continued→
- Tags:
- andrewwetzler, biofuels, brandweek, bushadministration, lizbarrattbrown, montyschmitt, sfchronicle, smartgrowth, stimulus, tarsands, time, tv, wallstreetjournal
- Nathanael Greene
- Blog | About
- Posted January 14, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
, Solving Global Warming
At his Senate confirmation hearing today, Governor Vilsack smartly dodged questions about allowing increased blends of ethanol in regular gasoline (subscription required), and focused on his support for advanced biofuels. That's good, but it highlights the need for a new...continued→
- Tags:
- billiongallons, biofuels, ethanol, greenyear, LCFS, markettransformation, RFS, stimulus, taxcredits
- Deron Lovaas
- Blog | About
- Posted January 8, 2009 in Moving Beyond Oil
My friend Barbara McCann, communications consultant and coordinator of the "Complete Streets" campaign, is my guest on Switchboard today, penning a terrific piece I'm sure you'll enjoy: Right from the start, the US automakers looking for handouts on Capitol Hill...continued→
- Tags:
- bicycle, cars, pedestrian, publictransit, stimulus, transportationpolicy
- Lane Burt
- Blog | About
- Posted December 30, 2008 in Green Enterprise
, Moving Beyond Oil
, Solving Global Warming
On December 19th, NRDC, the Alliance to Save Energy, the Edison Electric Institute, and the EnergyFuture coalition released a comprehensive plan to create jobs and save money through energy efficiency. Peter Lehner, our Executive Director, blogged extensively on the major...continued→
- Tags:
- buildings, economicrecovery, energyefficiency, stimulus
- Nathanael Greene
- Blog | About
- Posted December 19, 2008 in Moving Beyond Oil
, Solving Global Warming
This post on the Wall St. Journal's Washington Wire blog added some specificity to the rumors I've been hearing that the biofuels industry is pushing for some financial support as part of the economic recovery package likely to move early...continued→
- Tags:
- biofuels, ethanol, markettransformation, policy, stimulus, taxcredits
- Kaid Benfield
- Blog | About
- Posted December 19, 2008 in Living Sustainably
, Moving Beyond Oil
, Solving Global Warming
I've written in here before that I believe that the era of unbridled sprawl and skyrocketing driving rates is over. The demise won't come cleanly and certainly not uniformly, but it is happening. The latest confirmation comes from our...continued→
- Tags:
- brookings, driving, infrastructure, smartgrowth, sprawl, stimulus, VMT
- Deron Lovaas
- Blog | About
- Posted December 12, 2008 in Moving Beyond Oil
Heading home for the holidays, lawmakers will surely mull over the heated debate for an auto industry bailout. Regardless of how they feel about the outcome, at least it was discussed in broad daylight. Executives testified twice, submitted plans...continued→
- Tags:
- globalwarming, highways, legislation, oildependence, stimulus, transportation policy
- Kaid Benfield
- Blog | About
- Posted December 9, 2008 in Green Enterprise
, Living Sustainably
, Moving Beyond Oil
Noted columnist and TV political analyst David Brooks has an excellent op-ed in today's New York Times observing that the American social and economic culture has shifted from sprawl to smart growth and that it is time for the political...continued→
- Tags:
- davidbrooks, infrastructure, obama, publictransportation, smartgrowth, stimulus, transit
