Report: States Lead The Way To End Country's 'Addiction To Oil'
The states are already leading the way on clean energy as President Bush travels the country to sell his plan to end the country's "addiction to oil," according to a report released on Feb. 20 by the Apollo Alliance, a clean-energy proponent.
The report, called "New Energy for States," outlines the best state-based clean energy solutions the president can adopt nationally.
Apollo Alliance president Jerome Ringo said that the president should adopt Wisconsin's leading-edge strategies to develop clean energy and good jobs.
"The president did a great service by admitting we must end our addiction to oil," said Ringo. "Taken together, states offer a clean energy blueprint that could create thousands of jobs and make the president's dream a reality."
The report documents dozens of state-level policies that could provide a blueprint to end the nation's dependence on foreign oil, promote clean fuels and create millions of good jobs. Twenty-three states have standards to increase the share of electric power from renewable sources like wind and sun.
Twenty-four states have adopted creative public-private funding mechanisms that make clean energy investments without straining budgets or raising taxes. New York, Missouri, Hawaii and several other states have adopted aggressive programs to replace oil imports with homegrown fuels.
Additional information on the report can be accessed at http://www.apolloalliance.org/state_and_local/statepolicy_report.cfm.
This article originally appeared in the 02/01/2006 issue of Environmental Protection.