Clean Energy Future & Mass Transit Paradox

The President puts green energy tops on the list.

This is The Environment Report. I’m Lester Graham.

Health care, education… those are always top priorities in a Presidential address like last night’s, but President Barack Obama said “It begins with energy.” He reminded us the recent stimulus package included doubling the supply of renewable energy in the next three years, investments in basic research-- including energy, a better power grid and making buildings and homes more energy efficient.

(((OBAMA :25 --- “But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America. That’s what we need.”

A carbon cap and trade program would make fossil fuels more expensive… and encourage solar, wind and other renewable energy.

Right after President Obama’s address… we called Margie Kriz. She’s the energy and environmental correspondent for the National Journal. She says the President framed the idea of a carbon cap-and-trade program in a way that ties it to a new green economy.

(((KRIZ “Well, he said new energy solutions are needed and solutions that protect the nation from climate change. So he threaded climate change through this so that it creates jobs.”

Since climate change legislation opponents say a carbon cap-and-trade program would be a jobs killer… tying it to creating new green jobs helps the President challenge that argument.

(((STING)))

This is The Environment Report.

The President reminded us that the 787-billion dollar stimulus plan should start hitting constructions projects soon… and a lot of folks in state and local government are thinking about how they’ll spend that money. Some mayors are especially eyeing the eight-point-four billion for public transit. Rene Gutel looks at who wants to spend what…

>
> TRX1: Mayors from coast to coast see the stimulus package as one
> big pot of gold. Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon knows exactly where he
> wants to spend money. (use AMIB1 for Gordon transitions)
>
> ACT1: First and foremost, Light rail.
>
> AMBI2: ding ding! (ambi from light rail) (keep under track2)
>
> TRX2: Phoenix is notorious for its gridlock, but officials just
> launched a twenty-mile light rail line. Mayor Gordon wants to add a
> three-mile extension. He says it's the ultimate shovel-ready project.
> All planned, just add 250-million dollars and it's ready to go.
>
> ACT2: We could sign a contract with America, with the federal
> government, that we will turn dirt by March 31st, and we'll create
> 7,000 new jobs.
>
> TRX3: But building a light rail line is not the same as keeping it
> running. Look at San Francisco, a city with a well developed transit system.
> They have a different kind of stimulus wish list that. Judson True is
> a spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
> (use AMIB3 for transition)
>
> ACT3: We want to repair light rail vehicles that have been damaged
> in collisions, we have some cable car kiosks that we'd like to
> replace, we have change machines we'd like to replace in our metro subway stations.
> (fade under)
>
> TRX4: The list goes on. But True says while he's thankful for
> stimulus funding for capitol projects, systems also need help on the
> operating side. People are calling it the transit paradox. Ridership
> is up across the country. And yet most transit systems rely on local
> and state money to subsidize operations. With the economy flagging,
> cities and states are struggling - and transit companies are having to
> cut routes and raise fares. (use AMIB4 for Gordon transitions)
>
> ACT4: You have a catch 22, more riders and you have to make
> service cuts.
>
> TRX5: Aaron Golub is an assistant professor in the School of
> Planning at Arizona State University. He's worried about transit
> systems getting gleaming new buses, and kiosks, and buildings but then
> not having the money to keep them running.
>
> ACT5: Or the worst case, opening a light rail extension and not
> being able to operate it at all.
>
> TRX6: But many mayors feel light rail and other mass transit is an
> investment in their future. They're ready to take on those shovel
> ready projects now with the hope they'll kick start the economy and
> that by the time the routes are finished, we'll be out of the
> recession.

If not… could end up being rail tracks to nowhere…

That’s The Environment Report. I’m Lester Graham.