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The Green Jobs Act of 2007 would help ensure that our nation trains workers in the new skills required to properly manufacture, install, maintain, and operate clean energy technologies. This legislation provides working and low-income Americans with a clear pathway to earn a family-supporting livelihood in the emerging, new energy economy.  We enthusiastically embrace this bill for signaling that America is, at last, ready to replace the old debate of “jobs vs. the environment” by investing in “jobs for the environment.”

Grant funding under the program could, for instance, train wind-industry workers in such new skills as turbine siting, airfoil repair, and weather patterns that affect turbine performance.  We are especially pleased that this bill provides for up to ten “pathways out of poverty” grants for community-based training programs that target low-income workers, thereby ensuring an opportunity for the most economically disadvantaged Americans to participate in the emerging clean energy economy.   Investments in training of building maintenance workers, superintendents, and engineers could improve the operations of sophisticated heating and cooling systems by as much as 10 percent, saving millions in energy costs each year in large public, industrial, or commercial buildings.