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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Report Says State Climate Bill Key to Replacing 350,000 NY Jobs

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Wednesday, June 16, 2010   

NEW YORK - New York has lost more than 350,000 jobs during the economic downturn, and a new report says passage of climate change legislation in Albany could provide the spark needed to replace many of them.

The report identifies three sectors of the local economy that would benefit from aggressive state action to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Report editor Dave Gahl, policy director for Environmental Advocates of New York, says there is significant job growth potential in retrofitting homes to conserve energy, as well as in the solar and biofuels sectors.

"If we pass this legislation, we send the signal to Wall Street and we actually start down this path - there's a lot of economic opportunity here."

The Assembly passed the Global Warming Pollution Control Act in April; the measure still awaits action by the State Senate. In the meantime, Gahl points to idle factories upstate and in other economically depressed communities that could be providing work in the renewable energy sector.

"Manufacturing facilities in New York that are under-used that could be retooled to provide parts for solar energy, or for wind energy or something like that - you're looking at thousands and thousands of jobs."

Andy Killian, sales and marketing manager of ZeroDraft Energy Specialists in Albany and Syracuse, agrees. He says the state could boost job opportunities for New Yorkers by shifting some economic incentives to energy conservation projects. Such projects provide faster economic returns to homeowners, and a wide range of employment possibilities, he adds.

"More average people can get in. In solar and wind, you've really got to be a specialist. We hire people off the street for sales, for crew, for project managers."

Opponents contend the new legislation could cost businesses money, but the report indicates their investments would produce long-term energy savings and job growth. The bill would aim to reduce the state's climate change pollution from all sources by 80 percent by the year 2050.

The report, "Climate of Change: How Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Strengthens New York Business," is online at www.eany.org.



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