Does Energy Plan Leave Low-Income Minnesotans Behind?
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May 25, 2009
Washington, D.C. – Energy legislation is moving through Congress that supporters say will help clean the air, move the country toward oil-independence and create jobs. However, concerns are being raised that not everyone will benefit.
Jerome Ringo, a board member of the National Wildlife Federation, says low-income Minnesotans and others spend more of their income on energy-related expenses, so they need some protection.
"We have to create incentive programs to make energy more affordable for the poor people and reduce the cost of energy to them so they don't suffer the brunt of the expense of a new energy program."
Ringo says the proposed policy changes also have the potential to open economic doors in poor and underserved Minnesota communities. The energy plan faces opposition from those who consider it too expensive and worry it will actually delay economic recovery.
Ringo says Minnesota Congressional leaders need to make sure workers can transition into new clean-energy jobs and must guard against making poor communities into dumping grounds.
"I believe that the system would generate revenue that can be reinvested into reducing the pollution in poor communities and those communities that have been in the past disproportionately impacted."
Supporters say the bill (H.R. 2454, which passed the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee last week) will set the first-ever federal limits on global-warming pollution and move the country toward clean energy.