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Repower America Ads Highlight Benefits of Clean Energy Jobs Plan in Congress

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 10:18 CDT

Radio spots say solution to climate change and economic downturn are the same

WASHINGTON, April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Beginning today, Repower America, a project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, will run radio ads in 15 states emphasizing the benefits of comprehensive energy legislation currently being considered by Congress. Specifically, the ads focus on the potential for clean energy job growth within each state, as well as the importance of reducing carbon pollution and America's dependence on foreign oil. The ads feature state-specific statistics to help illustrate the urgent need for action.

"Let's talk numbers," says the ads' narrator, noting state-specific unemployment and foreclosure statistics. "We need to turn things around. And we can't afford to wait. Right now, Congress is debating a clean energy jobs plan that will jumpstart our economy, reduce carbon pollution, and break our dependence on foreign oil."

"If we repower Ohio with clean energy, it will jumpstart our economy, reduce carbon pollution, break our dependence on foreign oil and create 80,000 clean energy jobs in new industries for Ohio workers. That's right, 80,000 new jobs that can't be shipped overseas."

The spot concludes, "We've got to make a choice: Try our luck with business as usual, or invest in a clean energy future. The smart money's on clean energy."

The new ads come in advance of hearings in the House of Representatives on draft climate and energy legislation from Chairmen Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA). That legislation would control the pollution that causes global warming; create a national Renewable Energy Standard; launch a national efficiency standard; and support the construction of clean, competitive American automobiles.

Maggie Fox, CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection, noted the urgent need for action. "Make no mistake, we have a real opportunity before us to lead the world in a new direction and create jobs. But we have to act now," said Fox. "Passing comprehensive energy legislation that rewards innovation and job-creation, rather than polluters, will jumpstart our economy and create millions of clean energy jobs in manufacturing, trucking, construction and other core industries that are hurting across the Midwest and other states."

A study by Dr. Robert Pollin and the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute found that 2 million American jobs - in trucking, welding, software engineering, industrial painting, machine tooling and many other industries - can be created in just two years by driving investment in energy efficiency, clean energy and smart grid technology. The report and state-specific jobs data can be viewed at http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/green_recovery.html.

Additional state-specific data on the potential for clean energy job creation, as well as facts on clean and renewable energy in each state, are available at: http://www.repoweramerica.org/state/.

The new ads will run in 15 states, including Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.

For more information, visit www.repoweramerica.org

About "Repower America":

"Repower America" is a project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, a nonprofit organization founded in 2006 to educate the American public about both the urgency and solvability of the climate crisis and to activate them to demand real solutions from elected officials.

SOURCE Alliance for Climate Protection

Source: PR Newswire

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