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News Release
3/12/08
John Paul Jones, Democratic Candidate for the 27th Legislative District, proposes first Green Legislative District
Contact: John Paul Jones, 412-735-6560
All across the 27th District, as I go door to door to meet with voters, people are proudly displaying the green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. But instead of putting away the green after March 17, let’s make the 27th District Green throughout the year!
Our business districts in places like Dormont, Avalon, the West End and McKees Rocks are struggling. I propose that we make them centers of green industry and green principles. Let’s redevelop the existing buildings so that they are LEED certified. And let’s attract businesses that specialize in green technologies.
We have areas with dramatic views of the City and access to the riverfront that would be ideal for mixed residential and commercial development. McKees Rocks has a plan to do just that on the Ohio River. Let’s make that development green by doing things like re-using materials, maximizing the use of sunlight, minimizing water use, having appropriate green space and setbacks, and using energy saving and alternative energy sources. These are LEED principles.
Throughout the District, there are beautiful, historic homes. Let’s restore them using these LEED principles. Our citizens will be healthier and will enjoy lower energy bills.
Pittsburgh is the site for many green buildings, including the Convention Center which was once the largest green building in the US and is now ranked 6th. The Green Building Alliance states that Pittsburgh has the highest number of LEED certified buildings in the country. Let us now add the buildings in the 27th Legislative district to that prestigious list.
I am most pleased that the "Good Jobs, Green Jobs: A National Green Jobs Conference will be taking place in Pittsburgh, PA this week. Let’s build upon this by ensuring that our students and employees are trained to take advantage of green collar jobs. These “green collar jobs” involve environmentally friendly products or services such as construction of green schools, solar panel manufacturing, energy efficiency retrofitting of homes and buildings, brownfield clean-up, and waterfront restoration. An added bonus is that most of these jobs are local and cannot be sent overseas.
The Federal Green Collar Job Act that was signed into law provides for Production Tax Credit (PTC), and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for solar, clean energy bonds, and other measures designed to promote energy efficiency. This Act will help to train 3 million new workers. Let’s take advantage of this and other programs to train the students and workers in the 27th District, the region and the State.
The 27th District includes the western part of the City and the communities of Avalon, Ben Avon, Crafton, Dormont, Emsworth, Glenfield, Ingram, McKees Rocks, Neville Island and Stowe. Our District boasts affordable housing, easy access to downtown, the airport and other amenities, and existing infrastructure. We can be a green business innovation zone. And we can also protect our environment by encouraging our businesses and citizens to live here rather than moving further out to places which once had green fields and farms. Reducing sprawl will also help protect our environment for future generations.
Some facts about the energy and environmental industries:
Source: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/11/green_jobs.html
· “In 2006, the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors generated 8.5 million jobs, nearly $1 trillion in revenue for the United States. These jobs are good-paying jobs, and they will not be outsourced.
· The environmental industry employs 10 times more workers than the pharmaceutical industry. It is bigger than the biggest fortune 500 company.
· Employment created directly and indirectly by environmental protection will reach 6.3 million jobs and $448 billion in real expenditures by 2015.
· Renewable energy creates twice as many jobs per unit of energy than traditional fossil fuel-based generating technologies.
· Globally, the annual revenue for solar power, wind power, biofuels, and fuel cell companies rose to $55.4 billion in 2006 from $40 billion in 2005—a nearly 39 percent increase in one year. Market research firm Clean Edge forecasts that these four technologies alone will become a $226 billion market by 2016.
· Reorienting our antiquated energy infrastructure around the platforms of sustainability, efficiency, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions represents a great economic engine for innovation, productivity growth, and international competitiveness in coming decades. “
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