Green Jobs for a Green Future - Real Jobs for Real People (Video)

From The White House Blog

"We have heard from Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, on some of the seedlings of a clean energy economy before. And back in May he introduced us to the enormous potential of weatherizing buildings and homes. Today, as part of a week where the Cabinet is out in force pushing through key energy-related projects and initiatives, Van comes back again to show us how weatherizing homes will be a major source of jobs in neighborhoods like yours as the President’s vision for a clean energy economy becomes reality. See if you can watch the video and not be excited about what the future holds here."

Beyond Coal - Showdown at Highwood - VIDEO

In Great Falls, Mont., a diverse coalition of ranchers, farmers, local residents, doctors, lawyers and conservationists has been fighting to protect their clean water, productive soil and pure Western air from the Highwood Generating Station, a dirty coal-fired power plant that developers want to build on the banks of the Missouri River. Beyond Coal: Showdown at Highwood, documents how these many voices have been able to find strength in their opposition to the common goal of keeping their homes, health, and heritage from being tainted by the dirtiest source of energy available.

Press Release on proposed State Roadless Rule

Today, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources is releasing proposed revisions to the draft Colorado Roadless Rule for public review and comment.

Our groups will closely examine the proposed state rule, but from what we already know it is a bad deal for Colorado. It would result in less protection for roadless national forests here than in any other state. As citizens here and across the nation have called for time and again, these national lands deserve the strong protections found in the 2001 Roadless Rule.

The proposed Colorado rule falls far short.

The proposed Colorado rule would allow coal mining in a fragile watershed where no mine exists and no land has been leased for coal mining. It allows roadbuilding and logging more than a mile into the backcountry, diverting scarce resources away from communities potentially at-risk from wildfire. The proposed rule offers an open-ended invitation for roads to new damsites including private reservoirs. It gives the Forest Service so much leeway that the purpose of the 2001 Rule - to provide clear direction to protect these areas from further ecological damage - is lost.

In the coming days, we will review the proposal more closely and encourage citizens and community leaders to provide input to the Governor as well as the Secretary of Agriculture who oversees Colorado's national forests.

Our bottom line is that we support strong measures for the protection of roadless areas provided by the 2001 Roadless Rule. We believe Colorado's roadless national forests deserve the same standards of protection as those in every other state. The proposed Colorado rule simply doesn’t measure up.

Contacts:

Ryan Demmy Bidwell, Colorado Wild 970-385-9833
Peter Hart, Wilderness Workshop 970-963-3977
Carrie Curtiss, Colorado Environmental Coalition 303-405-6709
Andrea Robinsong, Western Colorado Congress 970-623-2113
Bryan Martin, Colorado Mountain Club 303- 519-2027
Amy Mall, Natural Resources Defense Council 720-565-0188
Lawton Grinter, High Country Citizens' Alliance 970-349-7104