If President-elect Obama has his way, the economy will receive an injection of billions to rescue the country from a recession.  In his Saturday radio address, he said:

I have already directed my economic team to come up with an Economic Recovery Plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011 — a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office. We’ll be working out the details in the weeks ahead, but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy. We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels; fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead.

How much will his plan be?  The numbers are in the process of being crunched, but economists recommend $300-$400 billion.  Last week the Center for Economic and Policy Research released the Economists’ Letter to Congress.  According to CEPR, 375 economists from 36 states - among them Nobel Laureates Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Solow, and George Akerlof - urge Congress to move quickly and decisively to pass an effective new economic stimulus package.

The economists says that a stimulus package should target:

a) aid to state and local governments,
b) extending unemployment insurance and increasing benefits for low and moderate income households,
c) moving forward with infrastructure projects already planned and scheduled, and
d) providing tax credits and other support for “green” projects that can be done quickly.

–Heidi Pickman

Transportation For America is asking Congress to help the economy by investing in transportation that adheres to the following principles:

BUILD TO COMPETE.
We must catch and pass competitors in China and Europe, who are far ahead in building comprehensive, resilient and sustainable transportation systems, by modernizing and expanding our rail and transit networks to reduce oil dependence, connect metro regions that are the engines of the modern economy and improve freight connections.

INVEST FOR A CLEAN, GREEN RECOVERY.
Our nation’s clean-energy future will require cleaner vehicles and new fuels, but it also must include support for the cleanest forms of transportation – modern public transit, walking and biking – and for energy-efficient, sustainable development.

FIX IT FIRST.
Before building new roads, that will themselves have to be maintained, we should restore our crumbling highways, bridges and transit systems and protect the investments we have made in existing communities.

STOP WASTEFUL SPENDING.
Although there are many transportation projects in the “pipeline”, we must reevaluate them to eliminate wasteful spending on projects with little economic return, especially any that could deepen, rather than lessen, Americans’ dependence on oil and gasoline.

SAVE AMERICANS MONEY.
We must provide more travel options that are cheap and efficient, while helping people to avoid high gas costs and traffic congestion, so that Americans can spend their money and time in economically productive ways. We also can save taxpayer dollars by asking the private developers who reap real estate rewards from new rail stations and transit lines to contribute toward these services.

Because these goals are consistent with The New Apollo Program, the Apollo Alliance signed onto a letter of support that asks Congress to move ahead on creating a 21st century transportation system.

High speed rail photo courtesy of David Drexler. Highway photo courtesy of Washington Department of Transportation.

– Heidi Pickman

Meet the demands of a clean energy future

Manufacturing is a cornerstone of the American economy. It provides the family-supporting jobs, benefits, and dignity necessary for a prosperous middle class. But globalization and other economic upheavals of the late 20th century have taken their toll on this valuable sector. With The New Apollo Program – our roadmap to a new, clean energy economy – the Apollo Alliance calls for an unprecedented revitalization of American manufacturing. By updating our factories to produce the solar cells, wind turbine blades, and other components that go into clean energy systems, we will create and retain millions of high-quality, green-collar jobs. And we’ll put our country on the path to a future of energy security, climate stability, and economic prosperity.

To realize this vision, we’ve convened a team of experts from academia, industry, labor, and environmental groups and held several strategy sessions in Washington, DC. From these sessions the following recommendations have emerged.

1.      Create stable funding for the development, production, and deployment of clean energy technologies by providing loan guarantees, bonds, and/or tax credits for U.S. manufacturers.

2.      Require manufacturers to meet standards to be eligible for funding. Labor standards like prevailing wage and healthcare will help ensure good conditions for workers. Local content requirements, which set a quota for American-made parts in each clean energy system produced, will guarantee that clean energy manufacturing supports U.S. businesses.

3.      Streamline the clean energy technology supply chain by improving communication and cooperation between manufacturers and parts suppliers. Establish clear industry standards on how manufacturers purchase parts, how they build their products, and how they move them to market. And give manufacturers the proper guidance to meet these standards.

4.      Strengthen and adequately fund the Green Jobs Act and add language addressing the need to provide training, and clear pathways for advancement, for all current and expected workers in clean energy manufacturing.

5.      Urge the President to create a commission that brings together federal agencies and states to prioritize American manufacturing of clean energy systems and components.

Our goal is to introduce federal clean energy manufacturing legislation in early 2009. To this end, we are actively engaging endorsers and allies from Congress, manufacturing trade associations, labor unions, clean energy industries, and other areas.

For further information, or to join us in this important effort, please contact:

Kate Gordon, Apollo Alliance Co-Director
and Seph Petta, Research Assistant
(415) 371-1700 x207
petta@apolloalliance.org

After a long battle in North Carolina focused on energy policy, Kay Hagan beat current incumbent Elizabeth Dole with an 8.5 point lead, bringing in 52.7 percent of the vote. Viewed as an underdog by many, Hagan achieved an upset almost unthinkable a year ago. She was endorsed by many Apollo allies, such as the AFL-CIO, League of Conservation Voters, and the Sierra Club. She also received significant support from the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, which spent more money in North Carolina than any other to win over the battleground.

A five-term state senator from Greensboro, Hagan believes that “America’s entrepreneurs and innovators can develop the next generation of energy technologies and create new green collar jobs.” She supported North Carolina’s law requiring 12.5 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable energy by 2021 and calls for a 60 to 80 percent emission reductions by 2050.

Once in office, Hagan plans to partner with more senior senators to replace tax breaks for big oil with incentives for clean energy entrepreneurs, push for fuel economy standards and increase investment in public transit and R&D in renewables. Hagan’s job growth plan uses our Green Collar Jobs report numbers to support workforce development in biofuel production and wind turbine manufacturing.  Perhaps, her energy plan to “reduce costs, increase investments in clean energy and create good, clean jobs in North Carolina that can’t be outsourced” is part of the reason that she won by the largest margin of victory for a North Carolina Senate race in 30 years. Sounds like North Carolina believes that “we have the talent and the ingenuity; we just need to harness it.”

–Amelia Klawon

The Apollo Alliance is proud to announce that our president, Jerome Ringo made the 2008 Forecast Earth Hot List.

Each year The Weather Channel through its Forecast Earth TV programming and website highlight 10 individuals and/or companies who were key in the ongoing fight against global warming and who helped mitigate change whether through direct action or education.  The final nominees are judged by a panel of internal and external experts on the subject matter.

Last year’s 2007 Hot List Honorees included Thomas Friedman, Al Gore, Majora Carter and Apollo boardmember Van Jones.

Be sure to tune into the small screen later this month.  This year’s Hot List will be featured on The Weather Channel website during NBC’s Go Green week (November 17th) and on our Forecast Earth TV show weekend of December 6th, repeating weekend of December 27th.

– Heidi Pickman

P.S. Update - here’s the full list and official press release.  Also congrats to Apollo board member Van Jones.

In Oregon, clean energy and quality jobs have prevailed over arctic drilling and doubt about global warming. Democrat Jeff Merkley won the Senate seat of the Republican incumbent, Gordon Smith, with 48.9 percent of the state’s votes, a three-point margin. This brings the number of likely Democratic votes in the Senate to 57. (Trivia - Smith is the second cousin of Democrats Mark and Tom Udall, clean energy champions who just won Senate seats in their respective states of Colorado and New Mexico.)

Merkley’s victory, helped along by Apollo supporters like the AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers, and The Sierra Club, holds great promise for our clean energy future. Merkley, currently Oregon’s House speaker, has a strong record of pro–environment and renewable energy action, and we expect he’ll support many of the recommendations in The New Apollo Program.

Once he joins Ron Wyden (D-OR) in the Senate, Merkley promises to get to work on several Apollo-type projects. He wants to reinvest in our infrastructure and electrical grid, strengthen the Buy American Act to support domestic industry, and spur investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency to create “new green-collar…jobs with good wages.”

And let’s not overlook what he’s already done: he helped establish Oregon’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (25 percent by 2025 – same as what Apollo recommends for the nation) and expanded renewable energy tax credits for Oregonians.

We hope to be working with Senator Merkley to “move [ourselves] away from our dependence on foreign oil” and “invest in renewable energy technology right here at home, instead of sending $1 billion a day overseas.”

– Seph Petta

In one of many exciting election victories, Colorado Representative Mark Udall won the seat of retiring Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO). In doing so he beat Republican Bob Schaffer, a fellow Congressman and natural gas company executive, with 51.9 percent of Colorado’s votes – a stunning eight-point lead. Udall’s coup puts a fresh wind behind the sails of our New Apollo Program for clean energy and green jobs, for which Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has already pledged his support.

Anyone with a firm belief that “energy is an over-arching issue that combines security, prosperity, and environmental quality,” as Udall states on his website, will likely prove to be a good friend of ours. Udall has a lengthy list of environment and energy–related accomplishments. As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee and co-chair of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, he helped pass a House amendment to the 2007 energy bill that, if it hadn’t been blocked in the Senate by a single vote, would have created the first-ever federal Renewable Portfolio Standard.

We’re thrilled by Udall’s promise to “push for an Apollo-like program designed to boost our commitment to renewable energy,” and by the actions behind his words. With Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO), he’s leading a bipartisan effort to achieve affordable energy and energy independence, modeled on the “Gang of 20” (née “Gang of 10”) proposal for diversifying our energy sources. He supports cap and trade and increased funding for transportation infrastructure. Check out his work on energy. And take a look at The New Apollo Program to see what we agree on, which is pretty much everything.

Apollo applauds Udall’s victory and looks forward to working with his office toward our shared vision of a new clean energy economy.

Not unlike what the country did [with]…the Apollo Project and landing a man on the Moon, I believe we need leadership in Congress and in the White House that will capture the public imagination with a clarion call, and stronger legislative actions to promote energy independence.

We couldn’t agree with him more.

– Seph Petta

P.S. If that’s not enough for you, Grist interviewed him.

Thirty five seats held elections in the U.S. Senate.  As of the early morning of November 7th, 18 went Democrat and 14 went Republican.  As of today three are left undecided - that translates to 57 Democrats (including 2 Democratic leaning Independents) and 40 Republicans.  The Democrats are just shy of having a 60 vote-filibuster proof majority.  But you probably already know that.  What you might not know is that the Apollo community - the clean energy, good job community - may not need a filibuster-proof majority.

The clean energy, good jobs interests gained on both sides of the aisle.  Coloradans elected Mark Udall, a Democrat, Oregon is now represented by Jeff Merkley. and Maine re-elected Susan Collins (R) who was endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters (LCV.)  In ‘New’ states - New Hampshire, New Mexico - two Democrats endorsed by LCV won, Jeanne Shaheen and Tom Udall, ousted the likes of John Sununu and Steve Pearce, respectively.  Also Kay Hagan defeated Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina.

The bad news is that several incumbents, not known for their green-collary job credentials were re-elected.  They include Pat Roberts (R-KS), Mitch McConnel (R-KT), Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).  You can’t win them all. The good news is that the clean energy, good job agenda made more friends than enemies.

– Heidi Pickman

If you’ve spent time looking at the In The News Feature on the Apollo Web site you’ll see how much care and time we take with the media to make the case for the clean energy, good jobs economy. We know the reach and influence of the journalists and broadcasters and editors who are interested in our expertise and perspective. We prepare diligently so that every interview adds value to the nation’s progress in achieving a clean energy economy, and to our own work.

Last Friday, though,  we encountered some rare turbulence. The Wall Street Journal, in an article about clean energy investments and green-collar jobs incorrectly asserted that varying job creation estimates are “squishy.” I was surprised by a quote attributed to me that implied that Apollo’s five million job number is “just to inspire people.” Nor was I alone. My colleagues at the Center for American Progress also were concerned.

Well, the projection of five million green-collar jobs is accurate and inspiring.  It is inspiring to think of a federal investment strategy that can catalyze the American economy by creating new demand for clean energy and energy efficiency systems. It is inspiring to think about the investments in job training to help scale up America’s workforce to prepare to make, install, and maintain these products. It is truly awe-inspiring to think of the millions of Americans that can be put to work all over this country, in a huge range of occupations, moving America toward a clean energy future.

But it is not just inspiring.  It is accurate.  In The New Apollo Program, we argue for a $50 billion annual investment program over ten years.  It is an investment in all sectors of the American economy: from green construction to energy efficiency retrofits; from our transportation system to our power grid; from our existing factories to cutting-edge research, development and deployment opportunities.  Based on a comprehensive study on a very similar set of proposals that was done for Apollo in 2004 by economist and Nobel-nominated laureate M. Ray Perryman, this level of federal investment will create or retain at least five million jobs in America.  Most of these are on-site construction, manufacturing, and transportation jobs – jobs in industries that tend to pay a family supporting wage and benefits, and that have anchored America’s middle class for generations.

Dr. Perryman’s data show also that the economic benefits of the Apollo investment strategy don’t stop at on site jobs. These investments will create millions more jobs in associated industries, like the trucking companies moving the wind turbines, the lawyers and accountants helping broker deals between new clean energy businesses, or even the small restaurants and stores catering to the linemen and women upgrading the transmission grid in countless towns across the country.

Other studies, such as the “Green Recovery” paper recently released by the Center for American Progress, also include the positive economic impact created by, for instance, lower energy bills as a result of more clean energy options.  Lower bills equal more money in consumers’ pockets, equal more spending in the local economy, equal more jobs.

These “indirect” jobs are included in President-elect Obama’s green jobs calculations, explaining why he comes to the five million job number with a lower initial investment.  The different numbers are by no means “squishy.” They are the result of different initial assumptions, leading to different results.

What is not in doubt is that clean energy policies and investments create jobs.  Just look at Newton, Iowa, where laid off Whirlpool employees are now making wind turbine blades for General Electric. Or Sacramento, California where a shuttered nuclear plant is now home to a solar array capable of generating as much power as the plant ever did.  (Link to our map.)

At Apollo, we are awestruck every day by stories like these, and by the sheer potential scale of the new green economy – an economy that can and should create millions of high-quality, decent jobs for hardworking Americans who want to make a decent wage while also fighting back global warming.

Darn right we’re inspired.  Aren’t you?

– Kate Gordon

One measure of success for a public interest organization determined to achieve a clean energy, good jobs development strategy is to know who’s paying attention. Eleven months ago, the Apollo Alliance was reorganizing under a new chairman, Phil Angelides, and in a new place, its just-opened main office on Townsend Street in San Francisco. Today, this is a nimble national organization advocating for a clean energy, good jobs economic strategy, and capable of disseminating that message on every platform available in this age of instant communications.

There are three significant ways to measure Apollo’s reach and influence. Our weekly Apollo Update, and the various online engagement pieces we started to produce in September reach 30,000 to 100,000 people depending on how we target the messages. Moreover, the number of people who’ve signed up to receive our work has grown 15 percent in less than eight weeks.

The mainstream and new media are requesting interviews with our board and senior staff members at the rate of two or three a day, and asking for assistance in preparing print and broadcast reports an average of three to five times daily. The Apollo In The News feature tells the tale of an organization receiving more mainstream and new media attention than any time in its four year history.

And Apolloalliance.org, which was redesigned in August and September, and launched on October 1, attracts a growing audience of 30,000 unique visitors monthly who view 185,000 pages monthly and spend an average of nearly 8 minutes on the site, according to site traffic measured by several online services. That is twice the number of visitors since February, three times the number of page views, and five times the average time spent on the site.

In addition Apolloalliance.org is a solid source of news and ideas for the online journalism and blogger community. On average, according to URLfan, the site’s content attracts links from roughly 100 other Web sites a week, and Apolloalliance.org ranks 26,499 out of 2.8 million Web sites that URLfan tracks for online influence. It ain’t NYtimes.com (in the top ten), but in the spring when we first started to really build the site’s content and reach, Apolloalliance.org was ranked 96,000 out of 2.8 million sites tracked by URLfan.

Those measures of growing influence and traffic are consistent with what Alexa.com reports. Our site ranks 465,229 in traffic out of the more than 20 million Web sites tracked by Alexa. That is up from being ranked 830,000 in May. Alexa says traffic to ApolloAlliance.org increased 82 percent since June.

Thanks to all of you who’ve turned to us for information and guidance on developments in the clean energy, good jobs sector. And please spread the word to your family and friends.

– Keith Schneider